Weekly poems come via Alison McGhee– with a great deal of gratitude for her wonderful curation.
I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle not to stray.
When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.
Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
to its feast of losses?
In a rising wind
the manic dust of my friends,
those who fell along the way,
bitterly stings my face.
yet I turn, I turn,
exulting somewhat,
with my will intact to go
wherever I need to go,
and every stone on the road
precious to me.
In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
“Live in the layers,
not on the litter.”
Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written,
I am not done with my changes.
—
For more information about Stanley Kunitz, please click here.
Blog: alisonmcghee.com/blog
Condofire 
beautiful poem. Thanks for sharing it Tessa. I love it.
Thanks Nicole. I get these poems from a friend who gets them from Alison McGhee who is dedicated to curating these each week. I really like getting them and sharing them.
Tessa, your site popped up via Google. I’m so glad you like the poems! Thanks for spreading them on. – Alison
HI Alison,
I’ve actually posted quite a few more and I have now rightly attributed their curation to you. I have been getting them via Janet Murie and have thoroughly enjoyed them. They’re beautiful and I think it’s a wonderful way to bring poetry more regularly into my (and perhaps) other people’s lives.
Tessa, isn’t Janet Murie just one of the greatest things about being in the world?
I started sending a poem a week to a few friends about ten years ago and it slowly mushroomed. Poem hunting is one of my favorite activities. . . feel free to spread them far and wide, no attribution required.
Hey Alison,
Janet Murie is one of the most wonderful people in the world. I’m starting a movement to repatriate her to Vancouver. Just saw her here and realized how much I miss her. Thanks for your poems. I will continue to share the love.
Pingback: Silent Sunday « Silverwalking