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Robert Hedin is the author, translator, and editor of numerous books of poetry and prose, including The Old Liberators: New and Selected Poems and Translations; The Dream We Carry: Selected and Last Poems of Olav H. Hauge (cotranslated with Robert Bly); and Old Glory: American War Poems from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terrorism. His work has been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and in Ted Kooser’s nationally syndicated column, “American Life in Poetry.” Hedin is the director of the Anderson Center, an artist retreat in Minnesota.

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Why I Can’t Sleep

by Robert Hedin
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Blame it on the juncos outside the window.
Sopranos in one tree, altos in another.
Not to mention the tabernacle
Of starlings blaring away on the wire,
And the bands of swallows
And flycatchers pelting the house
With their steady downpour of notes.

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Reader Comments

  • Like a brand new lullaby. ...
  • Wonderful poem. I've always liked his poetry and when I look...
  • Perfect!...
  • Lovely. A delight....
  • This is a sweetly tuned poem. Robert Hedin reminds us that...

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