"Hide and Seek" by Charles Simic

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend March 13, 2018   Hide and Seek   Charles Simic

Haven't found anyone From the old gang. They must be still in hiding, Holding their breaths And trying not to laugh.   Our street is down on its luck With windows broken Where on summer nights One heard couples arguing, Or saw them dancing to the radio.   The redhead we were All in love with, Who sat on the fire escape, Smoking late into the night, Must be in hiding too.   The skinny boy On crutches Who always carried a book, May not have Gotten very far.   Darkness comes early This time of year Making it hard To recognize familiar faces In those of strangers.                Copyright © 2018 Charles Simic. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "My poems are a mix of autobiography and pure invention and often take years of tinkering before they are ready, so I rarely remember when and how they began and do not keep old drafts to help me do so. I like being in the dark as to where I'm going and where I'll end up. And I hope my readers feel the same." —Charles Simic   Charles Simic served as poet laureate of the United States from 2007 to 2008. His latest poetry collection is Scribbled in the Dark (Ecco, 2017). This spring, at the age of eighty, he will retire from teaching at the University of New Hampshire.     Photo Credit: Beowulf Sheehan Poetry by Simic   Scribbled in the Dark (Ecco, 2017) "What Now?" by Gary Soto "Generation" by David St. John "The Testing-Tree" by Stanley Kunitz March Guest Editor: Meghan O'Rourke   Thanks to Meghan O'Rourke, author of Sun in Days (W. W. Norton, 2017), who curated Poem-a-Day this month. Read more about O'Rourke and our other guest editors for the year. Help Support Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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