Barnard Reunion, May 29th 2015
I gave a ten minute faculty talk at the Barnard Reunion, then held a forty-five minute class. When my students arrived I was ready with pads and pens. I gave them fifteen minutes to write a poem. Then I read them aloud and we had a discussion. There was a good deal of crying. Seventeen Barnard alum and spouses make for a powerful room. Monika wrote five poems. Here are three:
Recounting pasts
So many – mine
and many – yours
then ours
This moment
an intersection
of past + what’s next.
What’s next?
Passing
That Chair
Your chair
Empty now
Now what?
Forgetting
How could I forget
What you remembered?
You standing there.
forgotten
Unremembered.
I’m sorry.