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a letter by Ted Kooser

what we remember, and within a year or two, the facts break apart one from another and slowly begin to shift and turn, grinding

In only a few months there begin to be fissures in what we remember, and within a year or two, the facts break apart one from another and slowly begin to shift and turn, grinding, pushing up over each other until their shapes have been changed and the past has become a new world. And after many years, even a love affair, one lush green island all to itself, perfectly detailed with even a candle softly lighting a smile, may slide under the waves like Atlantis, scarcely rippling the heart.

— Ted Kooser, "Tectonics" in "Delights & Shadows" (Copper Canyon Press, 2004)

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Flying at Night

by Ted Kooser

Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations. Five billion miles away, a galaxy dies like a snowflake falling on water. Below us, some farmer, feeling the chill of that distant death, snaps on his yard light, drawing his sheds and barn back into the little system of his care. All night, the cities, like shimmering novas, tug with bright streets at lonely lights like his.

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