Hi, loves.

Poems + Prompts #15

Well, hello! And welcome to Poems + Prompts, the paid edition of People + Bodies. I’m so happy you’re here to do a little reading and writing.

Today we are reading a poem by Sharon Olds. I know, I know! We read her a lot. I can’t help myself, she is the best best best. She is willing to say things that so many of us are afraid to utter, even to ourselves. In this one, written as her father comes to the realisation that he is near death, we get both a sort of plain scene (“the doctor says,” “he replies,” “he sits,”) and also — mostly toward the end — a moment of almost painful revelation for her. How has she seen/perceived/understood her father all this time? Is it correct? What happens to us after someone we love dies? Where do they go inside us?