Words for Dr. Williams by Daniel Hoffman

 

Between the years of 1887 and 2009, the autumn of 1963 was Lincoln’s hottest with an average seasonal temperature of 60°F. October of that year also ranked #1 for Lincoln’s hottest, with an average temperature of 65.5°F for the month; denizens of Lincoln were able to enjoy the warm weather at the newly opened Pioneers Park nature preserve and wildlife sanctuary. Daniel Hoffman, who went on to be the US Poet Laureate from 1973-1974, was published in the Prairie Schooner that fall with his poem “Words for Dr. Williams.”

by Tory Clower

 

Words for Dr. Williams

by Daniel Hoffman

Wouldst thou grace this land with song?
Well, go yodel your head off
But if it’s poems you want then take a town
With mills and chimneys, oil
Slithering down the river toward the falls,
Grit in the air, a man
Just off the night shift turning, tired yet strong
To watch the girl who hurries
Toward a timeclock step down from the bus–
Slim ankles, one,
Two, and click click click swings past. The sun
Glints on her raincoat. There’s
Your muse and hero. Stick around this town
Where people speak American
And love is possible—You, passionate
Among the factories,
Stethoscope held to our arteries
In sickness and in health
Showed us some places where our own poems grow.