Weekly Poem: ‘Contracted’

By Marie Ponsot

Here comes her helpmeet

                                   at a trot.

He’s a dealer in defeat;

                                   she is not.

Woe’s what he’s here for,

                                   not so, she,

proud of her bookstore

                                   at the mall.

No pride could look more

                                   like a fall.

Marie Ponsot has published several books of poems, including most recently, “Easy” (2009), “Springing” (2002) and “The Bird Catcher” (1998), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the 1999 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Look for an upcoming profile on Ponsot on the NewsHour.