Must Go On
distance hasn't come
will hungry body be
distance hasn't come
yet, but still
these days are nearly over.
I held you in my bed but
did it last?
empty breath, idle moan,
written name
on a hotel bill.
empty breath, idle moan,
written name
on a hotel bill.
will hungry body be
blank paper sheet,
no more?
no more?
distance hasn't come
yet, but still
these days are nearly gone.
Dear Estermann Meyer,
ResponderExcluirMy name is Anita Koester; I am a fellow poet (though still budding) and lover of literature. I am from Chicago but I am presently living in Paris for a few months with the intention of penning my first novel, though some of it rests on the page now, most just lives in my head. I am telling you these simple things about myself so you understand where if not who the following is coming from: A couple days ago I did a Google search for a poetry festival in Paris, what I was looking for did not come up, but the poetry competition with Goodreads did. I try to stay informed on the various competitions out there and have been planning to enter some this month, though I admit I was hoping for one with a purse or publication in a magazine :). I looked at the competition info and began reading the submissions, I really only needed to glance through them since few were attention worthy, not to disparage them, all poetry has a place just not all in the public eye. I had hardly read one from start to finish until I happened upon your poem. I stopped and read it several times, my heart racing, I did not need to read another poem, for yours would be the clear winner even if I had read all of them carefully. If it didn’t win it would not be the fault of the poem. I knew this instinctually as a reader and writer. I Googled your name and discovered you had entered the previous months poetry competition and by some weakness of spirit on the voters parts had lost by a small margin. I then had the intense pleasure of finding your blog, and the shock of discovering what a prolific writer you are. I have not yet read through all of your poems though I plan to, there are some that have struck me so hard, things I have felt, things I have written about or tried to write about and to know there is another human being out there with your capacity for feeling and expression and your love of the written word has greatly impacted me. I was moved to tears several times while reading your work. I want you to know, that there is someone out there “believing that you could to any of that”.
In fact, I was so personally moved by discovering your work (frankly I cannot think of a time when I have been so moved by another’s poetry) that I started writing a story about you that day, one I had intended to finish before writing you but I became distracted here in Paris these last two days. I didn’t want to wait another day to write you, some of your recent poems about death worried me, so I am typing this now. I even wrote a poem about you or at least inspired by you that same day I discovered your work. It occurred to me to enter it into the competition, wouldn’t it be funny if your poem and my poem about you ended up head to head, perhaps I should get a Goodreads account so I can do this. You have heart, depth of understanding, the ear of a musician and the eye of an artist and you clearly treasure your medium. I want to know more about your life, what you have done through these years, when you started writing poetry, where you live, how you live, if all the poems on your blog have been written these past three years since you started it? I have so many questions. I wonder if you would be willing to share your truths with me. Your poetry reminds me of my own and yet I know you have something I do not possess yet, something that comes with the continued search through the passage of time, I want to understand this something better. I want you to know your worth if you do not know it already and I want you to have your “three minutes” and then some. I looked and looked for your email and could not find one so I shall have to post this as a comment, I hope you will read it. My email address is anitakoester2@gmail.com; please email me when you can.
Earnestly, Anita Koester