An Abundance of Pumpkins by John Gorman: Poetry Reading Nov 6

FPL's Off the Page Poetry Series presents a poetry reading with award-winning poets Terry Jude Miller, Vanessa Zimmer-Powell, and UHCL professor Dr. John Gorman.

Wednesday, November 6th at 7pm 

The poem below, An Abundance of Pumpkins, comes from John Gorman's book, Red Pontiac Convertible.

At the heart of the basket of snares lie a few hidden joys. And that is what John Gorman describes in this enthralling book: the joys that come from finding the answers to very human questions. Why do we believe it all over again, he asks? We believe because he tells us we can, because there is such delight to be found in experience. What an enriching read! ~ Alan Birkelbach, 2005 Texas State Poet Laureate

 

 

 An Abundance of Pumpkins 

All of them orange, webbed with white,

here and there touches of green.

Sprung from nature, yet too wonderful

not to be miracles—like elephants, first love, giraffes,

sheet lightening, friendship, the Grand Canyon

when, say, you’re an Indian or a Spaniard

out for a walk and – suddenly—

There’s The Grand Canyon! 

Pumpkins

so big, so many of them

heaps and heaps

and somewhere the perfect one

hollow, yet soon hollower still,

transformed—and what’s left

you can eat two ways.

Riches, ridiculous riches—

Aladdin, God, Uncle Scrooge!

And when you’re out after one

with your father, there’s also

cider, Indian corn, warty

inedible squashes.  The whole set-up

brilliant as grace

right as the year’s ending.  

How boring to think it’s all from Satan.

How perfect to dress up and move

among a thousand lighted pumpkins

getting handfuls of candy for free.

How unaccountably wonderful

everything suddenly is.  And sometimes

a truck pulls up right while you’re there

at the roadside stand or in the garden center

and dumps a whole load of them. 

Hollow bongo thunder, the thuddish

plunk of Somebody Else’s music—

somebody closer than you thought people got

to the way everything felt

when it tumbled out of nothingness. 

This has been a good night.

You’ve been able to compare it

to things you haven’t seen yet,

things you haven’t  felt.  You might

risk a smile in public.

If your father has a free hand,

on the way to the car with your pumpkin,

you might take your father’s hand.

 

~John Gorman