Today, needing five minutes of solace, I closed my computer screen, walked to my bookshelves, and grabbed An Introduction to Poetry by X.J. Kennedy (7th edition). My father had assigned it for a poetry class I took from him about twenty(!) years ago.
On page 359, by chance, I found a beauty: “Ethics,” by Linda Pastan. The full text is here. More about Pastan (b. 1932) is here.
Linda Pastan, photograph by Margaretta K. Mitchell
About Tom Simpson
Tom Simpson teaches religion, ethics, philosophy, and human rights at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH. He is the author of *American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism, 1867-1940* (University of North Carolina Press, 2016) and nonfiction essays about Bosnia for the Canadian literary magazine *Numero Cinq*.
Born in 1975 in Olean, NY, he earned the Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of Virginia, where he specialized in American religious history. He writes, teaches, and lectures about religion in America, popular culture, Mormonism, and Bosnia. He lives in Exeter with his partner, Alexis Simpson, and their two children.
Tom Simpson, Ph.D. -- teacher / author / critic 
Great poem. I’m glad I read it: thanks!
You’re welcome, Jason! Thanks for stopping by–
Just one word, wow.
🙂
Thank you for this poem, Tom.
You’re welcome — so glad it reached you…