"Graduation"

2004

He told us, with the years, you will come
to love the world.
And we sat there with our souls in our laps,
and comforted them.

"Graduation” was first published as “Evening" in The Antioch Review, Vol. 62, no. 1 (Winter 2004), p. 102.  It is also included in Dorothea Tanning's book, A Table of Content: Poems, New York: Graywolf Press, 2004, p. 20, and may not be reprinted without the publisher's permission.

When the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Poetry Society of America relaunched their Poetry in Motion program in March 2012, "Graduation" was the first poem featured in the new series of posters that were displayed in subway cars throughout the City.  The full story of the program's history and return can be found here.