Public Poems
Sock Hop, 1957
If I could have those moments back again,
I’d leave this body like a twisted shell,
if I could be what I was then
and play guitar like ringing a bell—
and be who I am now,
on that shiny gymnasium floor;
and outside, February snow
falling forever more.
From the Gold Rush and Mexican Cession to the Civil War, Sitting Bull, the Great Depression, and World War II; and from Elvis, Superman, and Ricky Nelson to Pine Ridge, the New York Yankees, the Vietnam War, Robert Kennedy, the moon landing, and today’s politics—these snapshots of our past and present combine to draw a portrait of ourselves.
“Kent Gramm’s public voice [has] an old school earnestness untainted by preachiness. Gramm’s public poems range widely from the topical to the historical to the poignantly elegiac, resonating with biting Swiftian wit, pure humor, and Frostian wisdom. This fulsome collection is quite smart and much fun.”
