Saturday, July 10, 2010

Heaven for Anne- An Imitation Poem of Mark Doty's, Heaven for Helen

Anne says heaven, for her,

would be total awareness

of relational hardships,

with the pursuance of rudiment compassion-


to be the tenderness of an embrace,

or the soft succor of a 'kerchief

before the swelling of tears,

warmth in an otherwise desolate world.


Images of sufficiency,

and of unrelenting support.

But if we're to trample social enmity

won't our vision also entail


the possession of, say,

suspicion, the paranoia of a pain

that isn't really there,

conspiracy of abuse


which tears relationships apart?

We'll be a shadow of doubt,

a condolence accusing the innocent

of shameful wrongdoings:


a hell we've conjured from overindulgence

of our heaven: we will critique

our simple arguments,

proportion them beyond their merit.


But that's my cynicism. Anne

would stress understanding

in each and every case,

an order to properly amend.


Perhaps that's why she'll be a lawyer,

eventually: to methodically dissect

the evidence of misconduct,

a practice which translates easily


to the outside perspective.

Anne I think will perfect it, myself probably not.

She has spent her whole life on empathy.

I have practiced contentment,


while I should have been looking around.

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