W.S. Merwin & Friends: A Tribute
A benefit for Copper Canyon, February 4th in Seattle
Join us for a rare treat at Town Hall Seattle, 7pm Thursday, February 4th , when W.S. Merwin reads with four younger poets: Erin Belieu, Ben Lerner, Valzhyna Mort, and Matthew Zapruder. Proceeds support Copper Canyon Press and its mission. A commemorative broadside will be available, and a book signing will follow the event.
Purchase Tickets: $15 for the general public, $10 for students.
Copper Canyon Press is a nonprofit publisher dedicated to fostering the work of poets. Please join us!
Elaine Terranova
White Heifer
The night before my cousin Esther died
my mother dreamt of a white heifer.
There was no twisted metal
in her dream, no back seat
from which to lead the calf to safety.
My mother was pregnant with me then.
I was an eyelash on the back of her hand
that wouldn't blow away, not the favored girl.
She'd never have her back, not even
in the wish of a name. She spoke of her
from the dim doorway of my room,
nearly stumbling over the loss,
like a leg she could not touch down on.
I was saying my prayers, one after another
as if undoing buttons.
She stood in her nightgown, wringing her hands
that glistened with rose-scented cream.
I knew by then that this was how
she got her information,
so much of her life spent
in the shell of a dream.
Then she went to take her place
in the twin bed beside my father's
where he lay, sweat darkening his sheets,
And we slept like voyagers in boats,
they in front, so much farther along
than I. I knew she had come to say
that love is no protection,
and it is easier to speak with love of the dead.
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