June 2017
Michael Gessner
mjcg3@aol.com
mjcg3@aol.com
I live in Tucson with my wife Jane, a watercolorist, and with our dog, Irish. Our son Chris, writes for screen in L.A. My more recent work has appeared in The North American Review, The French Literary Review, Verse Daily, and others. My most recent collections are Transversales (BlazeVOX, 2013,) and Selected Poems (FutureCycle, 2016).
EPITAPH
Of the world's 7,000 languages,
3,176 are considered endangered,
with an estimated language death
occurring once every three months.
--Endangered Languages Catalogue
For the sounds made
for others, for the errant
moon god, for affection,
direction to a foreign land,
for a description of culture,
to speak to one another
after staring
at stars.
© 2017 Michael Gessner
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell him or her. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is the beginning of community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -FF