To Larry Eigner
(listen to the poem, read by the author)
In August the last of the Wordgathering founders died.
Like you, they lived in chairs.
Like you, they wrestled with speech.
Like you, they wrote what they could see
from a porch, a yard, a window
(bird tree sky)
But they wanted their stories in the world
Wanted to let others know the work of poets like themselves.
You yourself said,
don’t think of yourself
there is always something else
They had no objective poetics
only what experience had taught them
and the hope that others would want to know.
Narration is no sin when it brings
hidden names to life.
And they, too, had names: Stu, Dana, Yvette, Denise.
You would not approve of this poem
but like their work
It honors you.
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Summa
(listen to the poem, read by the author)
i’m
turn
ing
back
to form
from
the freed
words
and dis
continuities
wrested from
rhyme & rhythm
what I shook off in youth
breaking those patterns
that held us in place
Give me a child until seven Augustine said
and he’s mine for life. The child is returning.
Leaves descend in a hemorrhage of color
maple, aspen, gum at odds with each other
locust, sassafras, linden, oak
jockeying for place and the sun’s privilege.
A million tongues and hands all ….
It is too much.
I need a controlled burn.
Retreat to the comfortable bias of line length
Retreat to the easy audism of rhythm
Remembering what first drew me here
Remembering again where it will all end.
Read Michael Northen’s reviews of Sustaining Air: The Life of Larry Eigner by Jennifer Bartlett and Agora by Gretchen Gales, in this issue of Wordgathering.
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About the Author
Michael Northen was the facilitator of the Inglis House Poetry Workshop from 1997-2010 and the editor of Wordgathering from 2007-2019. He was also a participant editor in the anthology Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability and the anthology of disability short fiction, The Right Way to Be Crippled and Naked (both from Cinco Puntos Press). He is currently editing another anthology of disability poetry.