Pratik : PRATIK LA ISSUE HIGHLIGHT : American poet CAROL MUSKE-DUKE POEM, "Condolence Note: Los Angeles"

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

PRATIK LA ISSUE HIGHLIGHT : American poet CAROL MUSKE-DUKE POEM, "Condolence Note: Los Angeles"

CAROL MUSKE-DUKE

Condolence Note: Los Angeles

Photo Credit: Micah Baird for Women's Wear Daily

The sky is desert blue,

Like the pool. Secluded.

No swimmers here. No smog—

Unless you count this twisting

Brush fire in the hills. Two kids

Sit, head-to-head, poolside,

Rehearsing a condolence note.

Someone has died, “Not an intimate,

Perhaps a family friend,” prompts

The Manners Guide they consult.

You shouldn’t say God never makes

Mistakes, she quotes, snapping her

Bikini top. Right, he adds—You

Could just say, He’s better off—or

Heaven was always in his future.

There’s always a better way to say

We’re sorry that he’s dead—but

They’re back inside their music now,

Pages of politeness fallen between them.

O do not say that the Unsaid drifts over us

Like blown smoke: a single spark erupts

In wildfire! Cup your hands, blow out

This wish for insight. Say: Forgive me

For living when you are dead. Say pardon

My need to praise, without you, this bright

Morning sky. It belongs to no one—

But I offer it to you, heaven in your future—

Along with silent tunes from the playlist,

The end-time etiquette book dropped

From the hand of the young sleeper.

It’s all we have left to share. The book

Of paid respects, the morning’s hot-blue

iPod, sunlit words on a page, black border.

A widely published author, Carol Muske-Dukes’ most recent (9th) poetry collection, Blue Rose, (Penguin) was a 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist. She is Professor of English, USC, where she founded the CW/Lit PhD program. From 2008-2011, she served as Poet Laureate of California & has also been Poetry columnist for the LA Times. Awards include a Guggenheim, NEA, several Pushcarts, National Book award finalist & LATimes Book Prize Finalist.

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