Poem-A-Day: Given by Joanna Klink

Given by Joanna Klink     And I carried to that emptiness between us the birds that had been calling out   all night. I carried an old bicycle, a warm meal,  some time to talk.    I would have brought them to you sooner but was afraid your own hopelessness would keep you crouched there. If you spring up,  let it not be against me   but like a weed or a fountain. I grant you the hard spine of your childhood. I grant you the frowning arc of this morning.  If I could I would grant you   a bright throat and even brighter eyes, this whole hill of olive trees, its calmness of purpose.  Let me not forget ever what I owe you.    I have loved the love you felt for those gardens and I would grant you the always steadying presence of seeds. I bring to that trouble   between us a bell that might blur into air. I bring the woods and a sense of what lives there.  Like you, I turn to sunlight for answers. Like you, I am not sure where it has gone.         Copyright © 2013 by Joanna Klink. Used with permission of the author.   About This Poem "The poem is addressed to a close friend.  Several decades into our friendship we become terribly estranged from each other--and I wanted to see if I could reach her in the poem, and I wanted to wish her well."   --Joanna Klink Most Recent Book by Klink Raptus (Penguin Books, 2010)   September 10, 2013 Joanna Klink is the author of three books of poetry, They  Are Sleeping (University of Georgia Press, 2000), Circadia  (Penguin Books, 2007), and Raptus (Penguin Books, 2010). She teaches at the University of Montana.  Related Poems Your Catfish Friend by Richard Brautigan Friend by Jean Valentine Book Loaned to Tom Andrews by Bobby C. Rogers Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the  Poem-A-Day Archive.         Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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