Review of "Thanks" by W. S. Merwin

"Thanks" by W. S. Merwin was offered by Poet.org's Poem-A-Day on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2013.  A link to the poem may be found here:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20492

William Stanley Merwin (b. 1927) is a prolific poet and translator.  He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize twice and is the recipient of myriad other prestigious awards, fellowships, and grants.  In 2010, he was appointed the seventeenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.  A detailed biography may be found here:

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/123?utm_source=PAD%3A+Thanks+by+W.+S.+Merwin&utm_campaign=poemaday_112813&utm_medium=email

The poem begins as a slightly tired "thank you" for all our blessings, but slowly morphs into a dark, cynical piece about all that is wrong with the world--and how we reflexively accept these wrongs and give meaningless thanks to an implied god who never listens.