Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

A friend saw a refrigerator magnet that read, PARENTING: THE FIRST 40 YEARS ARE THE HARDEST.

And lots of parents, thinking their children have moved on, discover one day that those children are back.

Here Marilyn L. Taylor, Poet Laureate of Wisconsin, writes of that.

Home Again, Home Again

The children are back, the children are back—

They’ve come to take refuge, exhale and unpack;

The marriage has faltered, the job has gone bad,

Come open the door for them, Mother and Dad.

The city apartment is leaky and cold,

The landlord lascivious, greedy and old—

The mattress is lumpy, the oven’s encrusted,

The freezer, the fan, and the toilet have rusted.

The company caved, the boss went broke,

The job and the love affair, all up in smoke.

The anguish of loneliness comes as a shock—

O heart in the doldrums, O heart in hock.

And so they return with their piles of possessions,

Their terrified cats and their mournful expressions,

Reclaiming the bedrooms they had in their teens,

Clean towels, warm comforter, glass figurines.

Downstairs in the kitchen the father and mother

Don’t say a word, but they look at each other

As down from the hill comes Jill, comes Jack.

The children are back. The children are back.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by Marilyn L. Taylor, whose most recent book of poetry is Going Wrong, Parallel Press, 2009. Poem reprinted from Wisconsin Poets Laureate, Marsh River Editions, 2009, by permission of Marilyn L. Taylor and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2011 by The Poetry Foundation.

The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

From left to right, SK2 members John Golden, Kirk Lyons and Jay Johnson sing at the Golden State Warriors basketball game on Sunday, February 13, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. Photo courtesy of Darrin Michaels.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Local band SK2 recently sang the national anthem for well over 19,000 people at Oracle Arena in Oakland.

They performed prior to the Golden State Warriors basketball game on Feb. 13.

The band previously performed for the San Francisco Giants as well as for the Golden State Warriors basketball team in 2010.

For more information about SK2 visit the group's Web site at www.SK2Online.com.

Bill Noteman & The Rockets will headline a night of music and fun at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport, Calif., on Friday, March 18, 2011. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Soper-Reese Community Theatre presents the third show in its new Third Friday Live series, on Mar. 18 at 7 p.m., with headliners Bill Noteman & The Rockets.

The jump blues group has burned up the stages of Northern California for more than 20 years. Don’t miss their unique high energy blend of Chicago blues and rock and roll, and Bill’s outrageous harmonica.

Opening for Bill Noteman & the Rockets is “Tastes Like Chicken,” a cool new project, featuring many of the musicians from the Rockets.

They play a rockin' jazzy, funky bluesy mix of fun music. With all of this toe tappin’ rhythm going on, the dance floor is bound to be full all night.

The Soper-Reese Theatre “Third Friday Live” series presents the best in local entertainment with more shows coming up on April 15 and May 20.

Look for updates on upcoming headliners and opening acts at www.soperreesetheatre.com. Major media sponsor for the series is Bicoastal Media, KNTI 99.5 FM Radio. Supporting sponsor is Lake Event Design.

All seats for “Third Friday Live” are $10.

Get your tickets online at www.SoperReeseTheatre.com or at the Theatre Box Office, 275 Main St., Lakeport.

The box office is open on Thursdays noon to 5 p.m., and on the day of the show, for two hours before show time.

Tickets also are on sale at Catfish Books in the Safeway Center, Lakeport; at the Lower Lake Coffee Company on Main Street or by phone at 707-263-0577.

The Soper-Reese Community Theatre is a restored, historic, performing arts venue established in 1949 and seating 300 patrons.

Run by an all-volunteer organization, the theater operates under the guidance of the non-profit Lake County Arts Council.

The Soper-Reese brings dance, music, plays and poetry to all members of the Lake County community and to visiting tourists.

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

I love poems that celebrate families, and here’s a fine one by Joyce Sutphen of Minnesota, a poet who has written dozens of poems I’d like to publish in this column if there only were weeks enough for all of them.

The Aunts

I like it when they get together

and talk in voices that sound

like apple trees and grape vines,

and some of them wear hats

and go to Arizona in the winter,

and they all like to play cards.

They will always be the ones

who say “It is time to go now,”

even as we linger at the door,

or stand by the waiting cars, they

remember someone—an uncle we

never knew—and sigh, all

of them together, like wind

in the oak trees behind the farm

where they grew up—a place

I remember—especially

the hen house and the soft

clucking that filled the sunlit yard.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Joyce Sutphen from her most recent book of poetry, First Words, Red Dragonfly Press, 2010. Poem reprinted by permission of Joyce Sutphen and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2011 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.