A Poetic Take On Life

“I think it's crucial that we remember the lives of people, not their deaths. Our deaths are not our lives.” – Ross Gay

Born on Aug. 1, 1974, Gay is the winner of numerous awards, including being a finalist for the National Book Award for his poetry collections.   A professor of poetry at the University of Indiana, Gay’s poems have appeared in the country’s leading literary journals and magazines including American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, and Columbia: A Journal of Poetry and Art.        For Saturday’s Poem, here are two short Ross Gay poems.

 A Small, Needful Fact

Is that Eric Garner worked
for some time for the Parks and Rec.
Horticultural Department, which means,
perhaps, that with his very large hands,
perhaps, in all likelihood,
he put gently into the earth
some plants which, most likely,
some of them, in all likelihood,
continue to grow, continue
to do what such plants do, like house
and feed small and necessary creatures,
like being pleasant to touch and smell,
like converting sunlight
into food, like making it easier
for us to breathe.

                                              Ode To A Flute

A man sings
by opening his
mouth a man
sings by opening
his lungs by
turning himself into air
a flute can
be made of a man
nothing is explained
a flute lays
on its side
and prays a wind
might enter it
and make of it
at least
a small final song

Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend by clicking the g+1 button below.