Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Poets and Poems - Dannye Powell

Dannye Powell
Before John Died

he asked a group of friends
if we’d bake cookies for the gathering
after his funeral. The men
looked down at their black shoes
and shuffled, one, two. The women
were already flipping through
their recipes, trying to decide
what kind. While he still breathed,
we prepared a feast for his sure death.
Creaming the butter and sugar, alternating
the ghostly flour with the pulsing milk
situated us between here and there,
now and then. How like John
to invite us to a place
where nothing is as it‘s going to be
while everything still is.

3 comments:

Jessie Carty said...

such a terrific piece Dannye. I loved hearing you read at Charlotte Writer's Club :)

John McDonald said...

a delightful poem
john

Terri L. French said...

love this, especially the life/death imagery of the "ghostly flour" and the "pulsing milk"