Only as the Day Is Long by Dorianne Laux

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend August 4, 2015   Only as the Day Is Long   Dorianne Laux

Soon she will be no more than a passing thought, a pang, a timpani of wind in the chimes, bent spoons hung from the eaves on a first night in a new house on a street where no dog sings, no cat visits a neighbor cat in the middle of the street, winding and rubbing fur against fur, throwing sparks.  Her atoms are out there, circling the earth, minus her happiness, minus her grief, only her body’s water atoms, her hair and bone and teeth atoms, her fleshy atoms, her boozy atoms, her saltines and cheese and tea, but not her piano concerto atoms, her atoms of laughter and cruelty, her atoms of lies and lilies along the driveway and her slippers, Lord her slippers, where are they now?            Copyright © 2015 by Dorianne Laux. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “I’ve been writing poems about my mother who died a few years ago. I’ve tried to write about other things, but she keeps elbowing her way in, saying remember me.” —Dorianne Laux   Dorianne Laux is the author of The Book of Men (W. W. Norton, 2012).  She teaches poetry at North Carolina State University and is founding faculty at Pacific University’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing low-residency program.   Photo Credit: John Campbell Poetry by Laux   The Book of Men (W. W. Norton, 2012) "My Mother Was No White Dove" by Reginald Shepherd "Mother" by Lola Ridge "Suddenly" by Sharon Olds Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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