There are three poems in the book illustrated.
And Dave Curry, who published the book,
asked me to do the illustrations.
And I told him that if I do them,
they'll look like a loony did them.
Of course, he said that's what he wanted, so I did them.
And you can't see them-- this first one from there, probably.
He's standing out in the rain with water
dripping off his hat.
I think the younger Hogan liked this poem.
There's also a space down here that you probably
can't see from the back row.
Maybe you can hear it as I read it.
This is Ludi's attempt to define grace.
"Sometimes, the rain swoops in like this.
Raging rivers, down from loony's hat brim.
And that's how much sense the simple tadpole has, they say.
But loony only grins, for he is fresh and cool and clean,
knowing for maybe a minute or two, what grace is.
Listen, grace is what the preacher bends himself to say,
and grace is good.
Help us, oh Jesus, not to judge until we
have stood at least a day in the other's shoes.
And the rain that sweeps the street
and makes an echo on the platform at the depot
smells like grace to me.
And listen, grace is where we are and what we stand in.
This water at the face and neck and hands,
a sample space like this between the freight
train and its victim."
[APPLAUSE]