Diego Isaias Hernández Méndez, Convertiendse en Characoteles / Sorcerers Changing into Their Animal Forms (detail), 2013, oil on canvas. Arte Maya Tz’utujil Collection.
A Monday in May
It rained all weekend,
but today the peaked roofs
are as dusty and warm
as the backs of old donkeys
tied in the sun.
So much alike are our houses,
our lives. Under each eave-
leaf, cobweb and feather;
and for each front yard
one sentimental maple,
who after a shower has passed,
rains into her shadow
for hours.
Ted Kooser was the thirteenth Poet Laureate of the United State and the winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. (updated 7/2010)