George Bilgere picks a poem by Howard Nemerov

Here’s a poem for today, July 14, 2025

A Primer of the Daily Round

by Howard Nemerov

A peels an apple, while B kneels to God,

C telephones to D, who has a hand

On E’s knee, F coughs, G turns up the sod

For H’s grave, I do not understand

But J is bringing one clay pigeon down

While K brings down a nightstick on L’s head,

And M takes mustard, N drives into town,

O goes to bed with P, and Q drops dead,

R lies to S, but happens to be heard

By T, who tells U not to fire V

For having to give W the word

That X is now deceiving Y with Z,

Who happens just now to remember A

Peeling an apple somewhere far away.

__________

From New and Selected Poems, University of Chicago Press, 1960.

Photograph: Valentin Kolev.

 

Why I Chose This Poem

Why does the sonnet, gray-headed and centuries old, refuse to die? Nemerov, who was a teacher of mine long ago, once remarked that “a sonnet is just the right length of a thought.” I’ll go with that.