Toy Cloud by Nathan Hoks

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend December 5, 2014   Toy Cloud   Nathan Hoks

The rabbit has stolen The big bear’s pointy red hat.   The frog looks longingly At its evaporating pond.   A powerful glow comes Off the sunflower   So everyone wears goggles. My son rolls around in the ferns.   It seems he has overdosed On sugar cookies.   Does he care about the bear’s hat? To him I am a ghost on a bicycle.   I remember my father’s mouth Reading aloud beneath his beard.   He is hiding in my face. The toy cloud is filled with rain.            Copyright © 2014 by Nathan Hoks. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “As a tri-generational ‘daddy’ poem, ‘Toy Cloud’ plays a game of tag from child to father to father. It’s not exactly what Wordsworth meant when he wrote that the child is father of man, but somehow the phrase seems to apply.” —Nathan Hoks   Nathan Hoks is the author of The Narrow Circle (Penguin Books, 2013). He teaches at the University of Chicago and lives in Chicago. Most Recent Book by Hoks   The Narrow Circle (Penguin Books, 2013) "Fruit Cocktail in Light Syrup" by Amy Gerstler "My Heart Leaps Up" by William Wordsworth "Another Country" by Ryan Teitman Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. 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