Meeting My Son at the Airport — Lou Lipsitz

About the Writer

Lou Lipsitz is a poet, educator, psychotherapist, and longtime participant in men's work. Raised in Brooklyn near Ebbets Field, he studied political science at the University of Chicago and Yale University before teaching at the University of North Carolina for 30 years.

His first poetry collection, Cold Water, was published by Wesleyan University Press in 1967. His later books include Reflections on Samson, Seeking the Hook, and If This World Falls Apart, winner of the Blue Lynx Prize from Lynx House Press.

After leaving academic life, Lou trained as a psychotherapist and practiced for 25 years before retiring in 2026. He has lived in Chapel Hill for many years. His poetry explores family, fatherhood, grief, relationships, aging, and the interior lives of men.

Meeting My Son at the Airport

This poem, from Lou's collection Seeking the Hook: New and Selected Poems, is presented here through its original publisher. Read it in full at The Writer's Almanac, where it first appeared.

Explore more of Lou Lipsitz's poetry at loulipsitzpoetry.com.