Has this happened to you? You find yourself emotionally distraught over something that had never mattered before.This poem describes it so well.
Second Tour
Second Tour
Penelope Scambly Schott
While my husband packed to fly back to Vietnam,
this time as a tourist instead of a soldier,
I drove to the zoo to say goodbye to the musk oxen
who were being shipped out early next morning
to Tacoma. We were getting lions instead.
When I got there, it was too easy to park.
The zoo was closing early so they wouldn’t let me in.
I went back to my car and slid into the driver’s seat.
Sobs tore from deep in my chest, I who had never
seen a musk ox and never cared until now.
1 comment:
I would have titled this Penelope Scambly Schott's poem "Nostalgia of the Unknown." Yes, there have been times when I have grieved what I could not get to see. It felt like a betrayed expectation. Come to think of it, "Betrayed Expectation" could be a title, too.
In regards to the literary value of the piece, it doesn't come close to the Margaret Atwood poem posted last week. I do feel the author needs a "second tour" around her words, so she can spin them more powerfully.
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