Allison Joseph: Elegy for Too Many

Bring back the poets, all gone too soon.
Bring back Jake and Rane and Deborah and Reetika.
Bring them all back because reading their words is not enough
On a cold and darkening November day,
Where the temperatures will drop beyond comprehension.
Bring back Sarah, Rachel, Diann and Craig, back from the lows
And heights of despair, bring them back to breath,
To heartbeat and sigh, to write and give us sly smiles
From podiums they will not read from again.
Give them back to us intact, no fury but in rhythms,
No darkness but in ink. Give them back to us,
Brains not short-circuited by hemorrhage,
Hearts not slashed by chemistry, hands
Busy with the industry of typing, language
Firing cells, cerebral and celebrated.
Give me back their voices of ravishment,
Of terrible truths sung in the least of circumstances,
Sustenance for the faltering hours, the dimming light.
I want them all back from the bodies that
Failed them. I want them back, waving from
That distant shore of forgetfulness, walking
Back to the embraces I didn’t get to give them.
I want them here, packing suitcases for a trip
That will have them see me at the airport
Right as we ready to board, slim books
For the journey in all our palms.

——–

This poem is in memory of Jake Adam York, Rane Arroyo, Deborah Digges, Reetika Vazirani, Sarah Hannah, Rachel Wetzsteon, Diann Blakely, and Craig Arnold

Allison Joseph

Marc Chagall – La Femme et la Bête, 1938. Gouache on paper, 22.38 X 19.62 in. (56.83 X 49.85 cm)