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American Life in Poetry: “Ablution,” by Amy Fleury
American Life in Poetry: Column 468 BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE Here’s another lovely poem to honor the caregivers among us. Amy Fleury lives and teaches in Louisiana. Ablution Because one must be naked to get clean,my dad shrugs out of his pajama shirt,steps from his boxers and into the tubas I brace him, whose long illnesshas made him shed modesty too.Seated on the plastic bench, he holdsthe soap like a caught fish in his lap,waiting for me to test the water’s heaton my wrist before turning the nozzletoward his pale skin.Read More
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Three Million Readers
I’m excited to let you Birders know that a poem of mine, “Winter Sunrise Outside a Café Near Butte, Montana,” just appeared in Ted Kooser’s latest “American Life in Poetry” column. The poem is from Thread of the Real, published last year by Conundrum Press; the poem initially appeared in “The Nebraska Review.” I can’t help but quote from the email I got from the ALP folks last week: “Newspapers carrying the column will download it as a PDF and run it according to their usual print schedules.Read More
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
