Time, as something served and something lost, was among the subjects addressed by U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic as he read from his works on Thursday, Feb. 21, in Memorial Hall.

Speaking to a standing-room-only audience of more than 120 persons, Simic began with “Shelley,” his reflection on the contrast between the works of the great English Romantic “poet of the dead leaves driven like ghosts”--a copy of whose work he had purchased earlier that day--and the reality of life on the streets of New York City, where “A man leaned against a lamp post arms extended as if crucified,/The rain washing the blood off his face.”

In “Factory,” Simic reminisced about the closing of the mills in New England towns, places where “the machines were gone, and so were those who worked them,” while “In the Library” was dedicated to books that “have fantastic titles but more than forgettable content.”

On being U.S. Poet Laureate, Simic said the job keeps him incredibly busy. “I thought at some point it was going to get less busy, but it hasn't.”

The event, which was sponsored by the Department of English and the College of Arts and Sciences, included a question-and-answer session and a book-signing.