by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2004-2006
We haven’t shown you many poems in which the poet enters another person and speaks through him or her, but it is, of course, an effective and respected way of writing. Here Philip Memmer of Deansboro, N.Y., enters the persona of a young woman having an unpleasant experience with a blind date.
The Paleontologist’s Blind Date
You have such lovely bones, he says,
holding my face in his hands,
and although I can almost feel
the stone and the sand
sifting away, his fingers
like the softest of brushes,
I realize after this touch
he would know me
years from now, even
in the dark, even
without my skin.
Thank you, I smile –
then I close the door
and never call him again.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2008 by Philip Memmer, whose most recent book of poetry is Lucifer: A Hagiography, Lost Horse Press, 2009. “The Paleontologist’s Blind Date,” from Threat of Pleasure by Phil Memmer, ©2008 Word Press, Cincinnati, Ohio. Introduction copyright © 2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
This piece makes me wonder how many of our members write poems that are dramatic monologues. I write them a lot — a lot, a lot.
Love this poem. I think I know this guy!
I had the great pleasure of hearing Mr. Memmer read his poetry at Caffe Lena (Saratoga, NY, USA) in October 2008. He was a skilled reader, and he was very courteous to his audience. I bought his book Threat of Pleasure which I highly recommend. It includes a section of twelve dramatic monologues: a magician’s assistant, an anarchist’s widow, a ventriloquist’s ex, a translator’s wife (“this time I’m French”), etc.
Mr Memmer’s got a nice touch himself, though I can tell that his protagonist is not from my generation when it was the man who’d never call again.
This is the cutest poem I’ve read in a while… such discomfort in so few words!
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