Poem-a-Day - "The Hymn" by Bernardo Wade

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August 12, 2024 
 

The Hymn

Bernardo Wade
after Marie Howe

Last night, the boy—
                                   you’ve already grieved—crawls 
                                        
                  through the window
                                                                  of who you once were
              & whispers,
                                              Listen. Listen.

                                    Ten years off heroin and he’s still here.

              You say no—not 
                                                            again—so it feels like a power
                                                            against your will
                                              holds the flame
                     under the bent spoon

    & pulls closer your last breath
                                                       of good sense.

        A sweet sweet hum begins                                   as he stops
           
the constellation bleeding                    from the pale crook

      of your arm with a kiss
                                                knowing you would oblige this
        oblivion                           this strange song

            growing loud & lovely               louder & lovelier

til’ you’re nothing
                                    but the warmth
                                                                  of life’s slippery goodnight
         hovering above yourself
                                                            you find the boy splashing
                through puddles,
                                                        it’s charming the way he calls you
          to the edge—
                                 Again! he says, taking your hand,
                                                                                                  but you beg him to stop.    

Copyright © 2024 by Bernardo Wade. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on August 12, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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“The poem was hibernating before Howe’s poem woke it up and told it was a little too rigid, that it needed to breathe. Sometimes I read a poem that directs me back to my own, and when that happens I don’t argue. I just get to work because I want to honor its advice.”
—Bernardo Wade

Bernardo Wade

Bernardo Wade is a poet from New Orleans. His debut poetry collection, A Love Tap, is forthcoming from Lookout Books in 2025.


“Naloxone” by William Brewer
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“Elastic Love Contrapuntal” by Sarah Cooper
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Thanks to Danez Smith, author of Bluff (Graywolf Press, 2024), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read or listen to a Q&A about Smith’s curatorial approach and find out more about our Guest Editors for the year.
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