How To Do

I heard the following poem read by the author, Cornelius Eady, on NPR's Fresh Air (May 5, 2008) and thought it was blog-worthy. The poem, "How To Do," can be found in a newly published collection of poems by Eady, titled Hardheaded Weather. Cornelius Eady is the director of the Creative Writing program at the University of Notre Dame.


How To Do

It embarrasses my niece to think of her mother
walking the streets with a cart
picking up empties
for their deposits,
but my sister knows how to do,
which was all our mother asked of us.

She's learned how to do,
which is both a solution and a test,
so I stand in line with my sister
at the supermarket.

Today is the best day of the week
to bring the bottles in.
It is a poor people’s science,
a concept that works until someone
with power notices it works
and then it doesn’t.