THE SADNESS OF EISENHOWER

That day in January 1961—he stood hatless—

a white scarf around his neck—the wind—

sharp and blowing—it was black and white—

I felt bad for him—I didn’t want him

to go—his ordinary voice—

the cranky up and down of it—

The wind was bracing—he seemed sad—

as if he had failed—maybe

he had failed—at what?—I didn’t know—

I was too young to know anything—

the black and white of it—the bright sun—

the sharp cold—it was time—for him to go—

Tim Nolan has an M.F.A. from Columbia and a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law. He is an attorney with McGrann Shea in Minneapolis. Tim’s poems have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, The Nation, Ploughshares, and Water~Stone. Garrison Keillor often reads Tim’s poems on The Writer’s Almanac on National Public Radio. The Sound of It (New Rivers, 2008) is Tim’s first book of poems.