Quiet Mourning

          for Leslie Scalapino

I keep gardenias 
By the Kwan Yin 
Though magnolia was her flower
On my steps where
In ordinary life
Last but once 
I saw her alive
We had tea and sweets
Stuffed with bean paste
Years gone 
Following pleasure 
Wherever it worked
We had tea again
And she by then
Only angel food
And determination
Would live still
But wildly
If she could

Credit

Author

Laura Moriarty

Laura Moriarty was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and raised in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Northern California. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her BA in poetry.

Moriarty is the author of the poetry collections Personal Volcano (Nightboat, 2019); Verne & Lemurian Objects (Mindmade, 2017); The Fugitive Notebook (Couch Press, 2014); Who That Divines (Nightboat, 2014); and A Tonalist (Nightboat, 2010), among numerous others.

Date Published

10/05/2010