Visitation

 

 

What I love most about my favorite poems

Is the way they are always calling me 

Back,  breezing in through another window or even

A crevice never before noticed, or a new crack

In the wall where just enough light sashays in,

And I can see it flickering in a darkened room,

A new dance, a sideward surprise.  Most faithful

Of friends, these poems, like the only ones who

Never commit you to oblivion, even if they occasionally

Forget your birthday or lose you amidst the crowd.

And each is perfect for a precise movement of mind

Or limb or loss:  you can call out their names –

Pablo, Sandra, Sylvia,  Fernando, Margaret… 

From an ember or a bookshelf they return

To cradle you in their words, or push you out again,

Into the world.