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Column 022

Of Some Renown

Intro by Ted Kooser
08.31.2005

In this short poem by Ver­mont writer Jean L. Con­nor, an old­er speak­er chal­lenges the per­cep­tion that peo­ple her age have lost their vital­i­ty and pur­pose. Con­nor com­pares the life of such a per­son to an egret fish­ing. Though the bird stands com­plete­ly still, it has learned how to live in the world, how to sus­tain itself, and is capa­ble of quick action when the moment is right. 

Of Some Renown

For some time now, I have
lived anonymously. No one
appears to think it odd.
They think the old are,
well, what they seem. Yet
see that great egret

at the marsh's edge, solitary,
still? Mere pretense
that stillness. His silence is
a lie. In his own pond he is
of some renown, a stalker,
a catcher of fish. Watch him.

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We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Reprinted from Passager, 2001 by permission of the author. Copyright © 2001 by Jean L. Connor whose first book of poetry Books, Baltimore. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.