#MIDDLEBURY
Some Kinds of Forever Visit You
Brenda Hillman
The unknowns are up early;
they browse through the bronze
porch bells. Crows
call & late
apples blaze
toward western emptiness.
In your illness,
the edges hesitate;
like the revolt
of workers, they
will take a while …
Here comes the fond
mild winter; other
realms are noisy
& unanimous. You tap
the screen & dream
while waiting; four
kinds of forever
visit you today:
something, nothing,
everything & art,
greater than you are
& of your making –
About this poem
“The poem is an address to friends who are experiencing chronic illnesses right now. I’ve been making this sort of structured writing allude to political, ecological, psychological and aesthetic experiences that can be held in common. The unknown can be aesthetic even when it is accompanied by dire fact.” – Brenda Hillman
About Brenda Hillman
Brenda Hillman is the author of “Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire” (Wesleyan University Press, 2013). She teaches at Saint Mary’s College of California and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
(c) 2016 Brenda Hillman. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
