70 Favorite Poems: 34. Room by Rod McKuen
[I love Rod McKuen because his poems are so simple and yet so poignant. This is my most favorite of his poems.]
Ceiling cracks,
dusty woodwork,
a spider’s web half started,
I know this room by heart.
I find my way
from bed to toilet
in the middle of
the darkest night.
Half asleep or wide awake
I need no map
to help me thread my way
past and in between
the obstacles that fill up full
this empty room
I’d post a letter
but I don’t know your address.
I’d call
but how would I begin
let alone maintain a conversation?
Once I’d promised to forget you
I ran backward
Making sure
that I’d remember you
for always.
The doorbell buzzes
at odd times
in the morning
or the night,
maybe all day long
if I were here
to hear it.
I never answer
since it isn’t you.
And if it were
on opening the door
I’d only open
brand new memories
that even as they happened
I’d be making resolutions
to forget.
i love that you used a pic from “eternal sunshine of the spotless mind” for this.
bagay!
3 September 2007 at 6:35 pm
oh yeah. hehe.
3 September 2007 at 11:02 pm
Looking for a poem by Rod McKuen that I believe was named “Friends” and includes these words: Friends are a gift from the loving God
more precious than human ?
Would love it if someone knows where I can find this poem.
10 March 2008 at 11:28 am
Who can tell which of Rod’s poems ended with the line, “your smile was like a warm wall.”?
Read it in the 60′s and cannot recall the title.
Thanks for the help.
6 October 2009 at 4:26 am
“I wanted you that day on the beach
Because you were beautiful and because you smiled
and I knew that your world was different.
But I lost you even before we had met, and I ran on the beach all day to relieve the tension.
Better to live in a birdless country with no sun
than to go your way alone…always.
But what could I have said?
Your smile was a warm wall.”
Rod McKuen
Above from memory…probably not ver batum…don’t recall the title.
18 November 2011 at 9:56 am
JIMJANN
I wanted you
that day at the beach
because you were beautiful
because you smiled
and because I knew your world
was different.
But I lost you
even before we had met
and I ran on the beach all day
to relieve the tension.
Better to live
in a birdless country without sun
than go your way alone – always.
But what could I have said?
Your smile was a warm wall.
7 October 2009 at 3:09 pm
looking for a poem for the book looking for a friend. not sure exactly how it goes but it’s something like this
If ten thousand where on the battle field foghting for your freindship know that I am one among the thousands.
it’s been quire sometimes since i last read this poem and have lost since lost my copy of his book. If any one can possibly help please i will great appreicate it
17 November 2010 at 9:31 am