# ID This Donald Hall Poem, Please

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-donald-hall-poem-please/192017>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 31, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-donald-hall-poem-please/192017 "2003-07-31T00:37:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-donald-hall-poem-please/192017/1 "2003-07-31T00:37:59Z")

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It was published in _The New Republic_ sometime in early 2002 (and may have been published elsewhere, as far as I know). It dealt with a day in the life of an older person, from when he gets up in the morning to have a bagel, thru the rest of the day, and relates the futility of it all, to be quite vauge. I wish I could remember more details of the poem; I know I haven’t given you all much to go on, and I’m sure what little I have given is totally worthless. Nevertheless, I hope someone will recognize it and let me know where I can find the full text.

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**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-donald-hall-poem-please/192017/2 "2003-07-31T01:58:00Z")

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Is it “An old life” originally from _The New Criterion_, 1995?

Here’s how it begins, I don’t think I can reprint the whole thing:

> [@](#):
>
> Snow fell in the night. At five-fifteen I woke to a bluish mounded softness where the Honda was. Cat fed and coffee made, I broomed snow off the car and drove to the Kearsarge Mini-Mart before Amy opened to yank my Globe out of the bundle. Back, I set my cup of coffee beside Jane, still half-asleep, murmuring stuporous thanks in the aquamarine morning. Then I sat in my blue chair with blueberry bagels and strong black coffee reading news, the obits, the comics, and the sports.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-donald-hall-poem-please/192017/3 "2003-07-31T12:54:58Z")

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Sorry, that ain’t it! It was definitely published in _The New Republic._ This one is somewhat similar in tone, but not nearly so resigned in nature as the one I’m trying to remember. Thanks, though.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-donald-hall-poem-please/192017/4 "2003-07-31T18:36:23Z")

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In that case, I would check his latest compilation book after his wife Jane Kenyon’s death - it would probably either be in _Without_ or _The Painted Bed_.