Cross Heart
I heard it on the radio,
A woman’s voice saying,
I like for you to be
The space far away
Where poetry figures out
Why you are still
But not absent,
Why you can hear
From somewhere
What’s coming next.
But her voice could not touch
What had flown away.
Nor could she kiss
My mouth, though I repeat
What was understood
Each night and each day.
Copyright © 2016 David Biespiel. Used with permission of the author.
“What I offer in this dramatization is for you to experience the thrill and mystery of searching for knowledge or meaning or—above all—belonging. And then, for those of you committed to that search, to abide by the promise—to cross your heart—to keep at it.”
—David Biespiel
David Biespiel
David Biespiel is the author of Charming Gardeners (University of Washington Press, 2013). He is the founder of The Attic Institute of Arts and Letters and currently serves as the poet-in-residence at Oregon State University. He lives in Portland, Oregon.