Jean Valentine

 


Willi, Home

                                       In memory

Last night, just before sleep, this: a bright
daffodil
lying in bed, with the sheet pulled up to its chin.
Willi, did I ever know you? The shine
in the lamplight!      of your intelligent glasses,
round and humorous.
Did I ever know myself? When I
start bullshitting I see your eyebrows fly . . . This book
is dedicated to Willi,
whom I do not know,

whom I know. The words in my head
this morning
(these words came from an angel):
“It’s too late to say goodbye.
And there are never enough goodbyes.”
I know: the daffodil
is me. Brave. Willi’s an iris. Brave.
Brave. Tall. Home. Deep. Blue.


John Ashbery

  The New Spirit (excerpt) I thought that if I could put it all down, that would be one way. And next the thought came to me that to leave a...

  • Raymond Carver
    Life and death matters, yes. And the question of how to behave in this world, how to go in the face of everything. Time is short and the wat...
  • Edith Wharton
    from  Book One Custom of the Country 1 "Undine Spragg!-how can you?" her mother wailed, raising a prematurely wrinkled hand heavy ...
  • Sean Hewitt
      from All Down Darkness Wild After some quiet introductions, he nodded towards a thicket of trees and started walking, keeping his distance...