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Her wit and wisdom were invoked in the nationally syndicated comic strip "The Boondocks," with the sage older brother teaching his younger brother a lesson by quoting from Ryan's poem Patience. Ryan gleefully describes discovering her presence in the comic strip while reading the funny pages in bed.

"It was just astonishing," she said. "He says, 'You know, a poet named Kay Ryan once said, "Who would have guessed it possible that waiting is sustainable, a place with its own harvests ... or that in time's fullness the diamonds of patience couldn't be distinguished from the genuine in brilliance or hardness." What do you think that means?' Huey asks Riley. Riley answers, 'It means you're a nerd and poetry is stupid.'"

Here's a detail I love: she has taught remedial English at the same community college for more than 30 years. Remedial English...would Emily have had the patience?

If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with "content," we will sacrifice something important not only in our selves but in our culture.

That's why I want the actual book of poetry. It's a different experience.