I’ve walked past the Poetry Foundation approximately three million times since it opened its current location in 2011, and, until now, never stopped in. Part of the reason was that, on the first nine hundred fifty three thousand two hundred twelve or so occasions, I couldn’t figure out where the door was.

It wasn’t just me. A review of the building on the Chicago Detours tour company website said: “Upon initial entry I became briefly confused as an eddy of space was revealed. I found an court that was easily interpreted as the main entry, though it is a dead end.”

But, today, I approached from a different side and voila, an epiphany, as if I were Newton under the apple tree. I believe I had some help, as physical changes have been made, again, not just according to me, but also confirmed by someone I ran into on the street, later, on my way out.

The current exhibit is A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center. I have no idea where the organization was housed prior to 2011, perhaps in some bohemian cafe that was big enough to warehouse over 30,000 volumes.

Of the 30 or so short poems covering one of the walls, I could find only one, Wish You Were Here, by Denise Duhamel, that drew me in. It started, “I’m writing to you from inside a red m&m.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t like a wine tasting, where they pair cheeses. No bites were available.