Poems for Life (14 page)

Harold Prince
, winner of over twenty Tony Awards, produced
Pajama Game, Damn Yankees
, and
West Side Story
, and directed
Phantom of the Opera, Kiss of the Spiderwoman
, and
Show Boat
.

Anna Quindlen
is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author. She worked as a columnist at the
New York Times
before leaving to write full time.

David Read
was a chaplain to the forces of the British army during the Second World War and served as senior minister of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1956 to 1989. He passed away in 2001.

Richard W. Riley
was formerly governor of South Carolina and served as U.S. Secretary of Education under President Bill Clinton.

Isabella Rossellini
is a model and actress whose films include
White Nights, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart
, and
Fearless
.

Gene Saks
is a Tony Award-winning director who helmed
Half a Sixpence, Mame
, and
Same Time, Next Year
. His film credits include
The Odd Couple
and
Barefoot in the Park
.

Diane Sawyer
has been a correspondent on CBS's
60 Minutes
, a co-anchor of
Prime Time Live
, ABC News, and a co-anchor for
Good Morning America
. She currently hosts
ABC World News
.

Whitney North Seymour, Jr.,
is a New York trial lawyer, a former federal prosecutor and state senator, and founder of both the Natural Resources Defense Council and the South Street Seaport Museum.

Ally Sheedy
has appeared in the films
The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo's Fire
, and
Only the Lonely
, and the critically acclaimed
High Art
. She has also published a collection of poetry entitled
Yesterday I Saw the Sun
.

Beverly Sills
sang for many years with the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera. She became chairwoman of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Metropolitan Opera. She passed away in 2007.

Margaret Chase Smith
represented the state of Maine as both a congresswoman and a senator. She was one of the first women to be nominated for presidency of the United States. She passed away in 1995.

Ronald B. Sobel
is senior rabbi at the Temple Emanuel in New York City.

Stephen Sondheim
, winner of both the Tony and Academy awards, wrote the lyrics for
West Side Story
, and wrote both lyrics and music for
Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods
, and most recently,
Road Show
.

Liv Ullmann
, actress, author, and director, is honorary chair of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, vice-chairwoman of the International Rescue Committee, and a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. She also participated in the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony.

Kurt Vonnegut
's novels include the classics
Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five
,
Galàpagos
, and
Bluebeard
. The American Humanist Association named him the Humanist of the Year in 1992. He passed away in 2007.

Wendy Wasserstein's
plays include
Uncommon Women and Others, The Heidi Chronicles
, and
The Sisters Rosensweig
. She has won a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. She passed away in 2006.

Paul Watkins
is writer-in-residence at The Peddie School in New Jersey. His works include
Night over Day over Night, Stand before Your God, The Promise of Light
, and most recently,
The Ice Soldier
.

Elie Wiesel
, winner of the Nobel Prize for peace, teaches at Boston University and is the author of the
Night
trilogy.

Elizabeth Winthrop
, a writer for children and young adults, is the author of
The Castle in the Attic
and
The Battle for the Castle
.

Tom Wolfe
is the author of
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, Bonfire of the Vanities
, and
I Am Charlotte Simmons
. He won the Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award in 2005.

Acknowledgments

Noel Coward, “I've Been to a Marvelous Party,” copyright © 1945 by the Estate of Noel Coward. Reproduced by kind permission of Graham Payn, Esq.

Emily Dickinson, “Tell all the Truth But Tell It Slant,” “If I can stop one Heart from breaking,” and “I never saw a Moor.” Reprinted by permission of the publishers and the Trustees of Amherst College from
The Poems of Emily Dickinson
, Thomas H. Johnson, ed., Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Copyright © 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983, by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Excerpt from “Little Gidding” in
Four Quartets
, copyright © 1943 by T. S. Eliot and renewed 1971 by Esme Valerie Eliot. Reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace & Company.

Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “The Gift Outright,” from
The Poetry of Robert Frost
, edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright © 1942, 1951 by Robert Frost. Copyright © 1970 by Lesley Frost Ballantine. Copyright © 1923 by Henry Holt & Co., Inc. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt & Co., Inc.

Langston Hughes, “Stars” and “To Be Somebody,” from
Selected Poems
by Langston Hughes. Copyright © 1947, 1950 by Langston Hughes. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Christopher Logue, “Come to the Edge” from
Ode to the Dodo, Poems
1953–78, copyright © 1981, published by Jonathan Cape. Used by permission.

Edward Markham, “Outwitted,” reprinted by kind permission of Ayer Company Publishers.

Motele, “From Tomorrow On,” reprinted by kind permission of The Jewish Publication Society.

Andrea Musher, “In Black Earth, Wisconsin,” reprinted by kind permission of the author.

Frank O'Hara, “A Step Away from Them,” copyright © 1964 by Frank O'Hara. Reprinted by permission of City lights Books.

Mary Oliver, “Wild Ceese,” from
Dream Work
by Mary Oliver, copyright © 1986 by Mary Oliver. Used by permission.

Marge Piercy, “The Low Road,” from
The Moon Is Always Female
. Copyright © 1980 by Marge Piercy. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Anna Quindlen, “Poetry Emotion,” Copyright © 1994 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.

Siegfried Sassoon, “Does It Matter,” copyright © 1918 by E.P Dutton, copyright renewed 1946 by Siegfried Sassoon, from
Collected Poems of Siegfried Sassoon
by Siegfried Sassoon. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA, Inc.

James Tate, “Man with Wooden Leg Escapes Prison,” from
Absences
by James Tate, copyright © 1971 by James Tate. By permission of Little, Brown and Company.

Alice Walker, “On Stripping Bark from Myself,” from
Goodnight, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning
, copyright © 1979 by Alice Walker. Used by permission of Doubleday Publishers, a division of Bantam, Doubleday, Dell.

William Carlos Williams, “The Yachts,” from
Collected Poems, 1909–1939, Volume I
, copyright © 1938 by New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

James Wright, “A Blessing,” from
Collected Poems
. Copyright © 1971 by James Wright, Wesleyan University Press. Used by permission of University Press of New England.