Why do I want to tell it it was the afternoon of November 15th last fall and I was waiting for it whatever it would be like it was afternoon & raining but it was late afternoon so dark outside my apartment and I was special in that I saw everything through a heightened tear, things seemed dewy, shiny and so I knew there was a cave it was more or less nearby as in my apartment it was blue inside it dark blue like an azure twilight and the gods lived in the cave they who care for you take care of at death and they had cared for Ted and were there for me too and in life even now
This poem was written on March 5, 1984. From Grave of Light: New and Selected Poems 1970-2005 (Wesleyan University Press, 2008). Copyright © 2008 by Alice Notley and reprinted with permission of Wesleyan University press.