Grief Puppet by Sandra Beasley

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend April 28, 2014   Grief Puppet   Sandra Beasley

In the nearby plaza, musicians would often gather. The eternal flame was fueled by propane tank. An old man sold chive dumplings from a rolling cart, while another grilled skewers of paprika beef. Male turtledoves would puff their breasts, woo-ing, and for a few coins, we each bought an hour with the grief puppet. It had two eyes, enough teeth, a black tangle of something like hair or fur, a flexible spine that ran the length of your arm. Flick your wrist, and at the end of long rods it raised its hands as if conducting the weather. Tilt the other wrist, and it nodded. No effort was ever lost on its waiting face. It never needed a nap or was too hungry to think straight. You could have your conversation over and over, past dusk when old men doused their charcoal, into rising day when they warmed their skillets. The puppet only asked what we could answer. Some towns had their wall, others their well; we never gave the stupid thing a name, nor asked the name of the woman who took our coins. But later, we could all remember that dank felt, and how the last of grief’s flock lifted from our chests.              Copyright © 2014 by Sandra Beasley. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “In 2001, Queen Elizabeth II said, ‘Grief is the price we pay for love.’ This poem is part of a collection forthcoming in 2015 from W. W. Norton.” —Sandra Beasley   Sandra Beasley is the author of three books, including I Was the Jukebox (W. W. Norton, 2010). She lives in Washington, D.C. Most Recent Book by Beasley   I Was the Jukebox (W. W. Norton, 2010) "Ode to a Dressmaker's Dummy" by Donald Justice "Blue Hanuman" by Joan Larkin "High Tide at Race Point" by Charles Bernstein Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. 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   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038