When They Die We Change Our Minds About Them by Jennifer Michael Hecht

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend April 22, 2014   When They Die We Change Our Minds About Them   Jennifer Michael Hecht

When they die we change our minds about them. While they live we see the plenty hard they’re trying, to be a star, or nice, or wise, and so we do not quite believe them. When they die, suddenly they are what they claimed. Turns out, that’s what one of those looks like. The cold war over manner of manly or mission is over. Same person, same facts and acts, just now a quiet brain stem. We no longer begrudge his or her stupid luck. When they die we change our minds about them. I will try to believe while you yet breathe.              Copyright © 2014 by Jennifer Michael Hecht. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “A lot of my poems are the first expression of something I’ve been thinking about for years. It takes years to notice I’m wondering and then years to think of speaking it, then one day I sit down to write poetry and somehow say it. It’s great because now I can think about it more vividly. In this case, when people die—friends or famous—we may see them differently, but why does each side seem truer than the other?” —Jennifer Michael Hecht   Jennifer Michael Hecht’s most recent collection of poems is Who Said (Copper Canyon Press, 2013). She has taught poetry seminars in the MFA programs of The New School and Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Most Recent Book by Hecht   Who Said (Copper Canyon Press, 2013) "Loss" by Carl Adamshick "Stairway to Heaven" by Alison Hawthorne Deming "Challenger" by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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