Poems to Live By: In Troubling Times is a sort of sequel to a book written as a response to the September 11th attacks. Its main focus is on figuring out a way to deal with the troubling times we are going through, learning that there are others out there who are also struggling, calling to us.
I think it's good, if not necessary to mention the first poem in the book, since it was more than likely chose to be the first poem for a reason. The poem is "Nocturne" by Li-Young Lee. Lee is a highly established poet of Chinese descent. A brief biography can be found here http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/291. A nocturne is a piece of art or music that deals with the night, often a work for the piano, so it seems fitting that the poem has to do with noises heard at night, when everything else is silent. In the poem, the noise doesn't seem to be calming in any way, but instead seems to be troublesome for the speaker, even reminding him of death and rust. I think this poem could possibly be a metaphor for how in the silence and calm of the night, all the troubles in our lives seem to intensify.
The second poem, "A Suitcase Strapped with a Rope" by Charles Simic, also seems to be worth mentioning. It tells the story of children who are being smuggled across some border, into the United States I assume. The children just want to go out and play, but the parents have made them squeeze into this suitcase to get them across the border. This seems particularly appropriate to the current time when there is always the question of how we should deal with immigration, both legal and otherwise.
I will have more up soon and I may even post a poem or two that I've written!
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