Unfinished Poem, and: Calisthenic

Unfinished Poem, and: Calisthenic Maurya Simon (bio) Unfinished Poem If there's some truth to be foundin suffering, I don't know what it is,unless it's that the darkest stars burn brightest as they implode, so ratherthan being diminished by our pain,we're enlarged by a clarity grief brings. Consider those pods of beached whaleswho die helplessly in the shore's surf,refusing to abandon an ailing fellow— their needless deaths seem more tragicbecause they're honoring succor overself-survival, because their loyalty and love will turn them into the kindof martyrs none of us want to be.What's the truth of such suffering, if not that these intelligent beingsunderstand sacrifice in the same waythat Ukrainians soldiers do, and that my mother did, when she whispered,Even if your sorrow's unbearable,I can't stay alive for you any longer— End Page 113 Calisthenic Sometimes I want to unzip the jumpsuit of my fleshand leap out from my lantern-self—just to see a grown woman shatter a skylight.The world's too much with me, yes,but who's to know what pinions me to prayer,if prayer is what a poem is?My daughters lean away from me,stalks of winter wheat yearningfor some glimmer of steadfastness,or else an eclipse. Bittersweet soothsayers,they say I'm a zoftig scarecrow,wind-blown and truly obsolete.Enough of men's empires, febrile desires,and the endless vicissitudes of pain.Brimming with half-truths,I sieve myself backinto my sleeve of breathing bodylike wine decanted in an Erlenmeyer flask,and await whatever song drinks me next. End Page 114 Maurya Simon Maurya Simon's volume, La Sirena, A Novella in Verse, will appear in 2024 from Cloudbank Books. Her poetry's been translated into Hebrew, French, Spanish, Greek, and Farsi. Simon's a Professor of the Graduate Division at the University of California, Riverside. She divides her time between the Angeles National Forest and San Clemente, California. Copyright © 2024 University of Wisconsin Board of Regents