When Someone Dies, the Sky Whispers Never Fall in Love, and: Every Morning, I Hear Sorrow Nibbling the Daylilies

Abstract

When Someone Dies, the Sky Whispers Never Fall in Love, and: Every Morning, I Hear Sorrow Nibbling the Daylilies Kelli Russell Agodon (bio) When Someone Dies, the Sky Whispers Never Fall in Love Because loss is the back of the photographwe never look at, I write your deathbedscenario on the palm of my handwhile your husband prays and your motherbrings dessert to the funeral. So sensitive,I hear you say at the edge of heaven, the endof history, so strange how we're herefor only an eyeflash. You stumblewith your new angel wings, and laugh—all that suffering! as you dust off your glimmerand I walk down a flagstone path tryingto tidy the flowers others left for you,as if blossoms are enough to holdwhat isn't there anymore, It's a gestureof unneeded sympathy a deathdatetoo late, you say. And I love that your ghoststill complains about the living and stillwrites me love letters in the scent of jasmineblooming near the window—If you're tryingto outrun pain, that's a race you won't win, I hearthe rain tell the sidewalk, in the thunderthat almost knocks down the front door. [End Page 21] Every Morning, I Hear Sorrow Nibbling the Daylilies Like the deer who kept returningto our office because for monthsthe receptionist left salt licksin the underbrush. How would it knowthe receptionist died sleddingwith her children in a late spring snow? Sometimes painbecomes the deer—it keeps showing upthough I have nothing to give it,so I watch it from my office windowuntil it turns, tilts its head at me,and slowly walks away. [End Page 22] Kelli Russell Agodon Kelli Russell Agodon's fourth collection of poems, Dialogues with Rising Tides will be published by Copper Canyon Press in 2021. She is the cofounder of Two Sylvias Press, as well as the Co-Director of Poets on the Coast: A Weekend Retreat for Women. Agodon lives in a sleepy seaside town in Washington State where she is an avid paddleboarder and hiker. You can write to her directly at kelli@agodon.com or visit her website: www.agodon.com. Copyright © 2020 Emerson College