To Ted Kooser

By Paula Johnson

You made everyone laugh with

your story of the little boy who labeled

you a Hobbit, but as you read your

poems to the hushed auditorium, I saw

a child straining to reach up

around his grandmother’s waist

for a hug, and I saw

a thoughtful teenager, lounging

in his grandmother’s kitchen, lovingly

sipping cold coffee from

a pink glass cup.

I saw a grown man who journeyed

one hundred miles to console a favorite

aunt as she grieved for her sister,

your mother.

Perhaps I saw your Mother’s little Hobbit, but

I know I saw a humble,

gentle, generous,

giant among men.

– Paula Johnson farms with her husband, Denny, in Vinland Valley.