Poem-A-Day: Gerald Stern, Day of Grief

	August 20, 2012 Today's poem is copyright © 2012 by Gerald Stern. Used with permission of the author. More from this author Other Stern Poems The Preacher [As if the one tree you love] Apocalypse Books Counting Death By Wind You can unsubscribe from our Poem-A-Day emails at at anytime—either completely, or until next April. Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane Suite 901 New York, NY 10038 212-274-0343 academy@poets.org		Day of Grief by Gerald Stern I was forcing a wasp to the top of a window where there was some sky and there were tiger lilies outside just to love him or maybe only simply a kiss for he was hurrying home to fight a broom and I was trying to open a door with one hand while the other was swinging tomatoes, and you could even smell the corn for corn travels by wind and there was the first hint of cold and dark though it was nothing compared to what would come, and someone should mark the day, I think it was August 20th, and that should be the day of grief for grief begins then and the corn man starts to shiver and crows too and dogs who hate the wind though grief would come later and it was a relief to know I wasn't alone, but be as it may, since it was cold and dark I found myself singing the brilliant love songs of my other religion. Share Digg StumbleUpon Facebook E-mail to Friend