June 2018
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, Innisfree, and others. My most recent collections are Transversales (BlazeVOX, 2013,) and Selected Poems (FutureCycle, 2016). I enjoy writing articles and reviews and these may be found in Jacket2, The Edgar Allan Poe Review, NAR, and The Kenyon Review, C. V. Mosby, Times-Mirror, and Allyn & Bacon Composition Series.
Note: Vera Henry was a fictionist, gardener, and early mentor. When Vera left us, Jane painted the watercolor (below,) and I composed a poem to accompany the painting.
Note: Vera Henry was a fictionist, gardener, and early mentor. When Vera left us, Jane painted the watercolor (below,) and I composed a poem to accompany the painting.
Watercolor by Jane Gessner
Subonnet with Flowers
- for Vera Henry - 1909-1987 -
Set on a glass table like a summer
memorial, day’s work done, a straw hat
with a blue ribbon meant for gardeners
rests over stalks of daisies and wild flowers.
The petals extend beyond the brim.
It could have been the perfect composition
but some of the round top was worn through
as though from sun or harsh weather,
maybe chewed away by the family dog
when forgotten overnight in the backyard,
a chip from the gardener’s fingernail
held to the light, something that was not missed,
our absence should be as much,
the equivalence of image
the other side of memory.
© 2018 Michael Gessner
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