These wrinkles are nothing These gray hairs are nothing, This stomach which sags with old food, these bruised and swollen ankles, my darkening brain, they are nothing. I am the same boy my mother used to kiss.

He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress during the 1990–1991 term. Since 2005–06 he has been a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Strand then studied painting under Josef Albers at Yale University where he earned a B.

He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990. Since 2005–06 he has been a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Mark Strand (born 11 April 1934) is a Canadian-born American poet essayist and translator.