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Poem-a-Day - "My Dead Friends" by Marie Howe

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February 22, 2022 

My Dead Friends
Marie Howe

My friends are dead who were

the arches    the pillars of my life 

the structural relief when

the world gave none.

 

My friends who knew me as I knew them

their bodies folded into the ground or burnt to ash.

If I got on my knees

might I lift my life as a turtle carries her home?  

 

Who if I cried out would hear me?

My friends—with whom I might have spoken of this—are gone.

Copyright © 2022 by Marie Howe. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 22, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“The poem speaks about Jason Shinder, Tony Hoagland, Lucie Brock-Broido, and Richard McCann: great souls, brilliant writers, deeply beloved friends. The italicized line is from The Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke. The first complete line of the first elegy is ‘Who, if I called out, would hear me among the angels’ hierarchies?’”
—Marie Howe
Marie Howe is the author of Magdalene (W. W. Norton, 2017), among many other collections. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Bunting Institute, and the National Endowment for the Arts, she serves as a Chancellor at the Academy of American Poets.
Magdalene
(W. W. Norton, 2017)

“Audenesque” by Seamus Heaney
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“Gone is Gone” by Mark Wunderlich
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Thanks to John Murillo, author of Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books, 2020), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Listen to a Q&A about Murillo’s curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year.
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