He said I wrote about death, by Kim Dower

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend March 7, 2017   He said I wrote about death,   Kim Dower

and I didn't mean to, this was not my intent. I meant to say how I loved the birds, how watching them lift off the branches, hearing their song helps me get through the gray morning. When I wrote about how they crash into the small dark places that only birds can fit through, layers of night sky, pipes through drains, how I've seen them splayed across gutters, piles of feathers stuck together by dried blood, how once my car ran over a sparrow, though I swerved, the road was narrow, the bird not quick enough, dragged it under my tire as I drove to forget, bird disappearing part by part, beak, slender feet, fretful, hot, I did not mean to write about death, but rather how when something dies we remember who we love, and we die a little too, we who are still breathing, we who still have the energy to survive.            Copyright © 2017 Kim Dower. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "My mentor and favorite poet, Thomas Lux, noted after reading my latest collection, 'there's a little more mortality creeping in, more darkness.' I was surprised by this, and then that night I dreamed about running over a bird. When I awoke I thought, 'he said I wrote about death,' which became a prompt and title for this poem. I now dedicate this poem to him, the most generous and beloved teacher and friend the world has ever known." —Kim Dower   Kim Dower is the author of Last Train to the Missing Planet (Red Hen Press, 2016). She is the City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood and teaches at Antioch University in Los Angeles.   Photo credit: Elizabeth Lippman   Poetry by Dower   Last Train to the Missing Planet (Red Hen Press, 2016)  "Because I could not stop for Death (479)" by Emily Dickinson "More Stones" by Andrea Cohen "Dirge Without Music" by Edna St. Vincent Millay Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. 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

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