The Sand Hill Review               http://www.sandhillreview.org              2009

 

 

 

 

 Pantoum for a Dead Poet

 

                                                for Stan Rice, in memory

 

I've misspelled a word in a poem I show him.

Arc became Ark or vice versa.

He's dead and on the page he's written criticism.

What is the dream of my dead mentor about.

 

Arc became Ark or vice versa.

In the ark of his office he said he'd dreamed in my voice.

What is the dream of my dead mentor about.

I, not his wife, seem to be the woman of his choice.

 

In the ark of his office he said he dreamed in my voice.

In his apartment I ask for a mentor and then we kiss.

I, not his wife, seem to be the woman of his choice

but I have an old body, not at all delicious.

 

In his apartment I ask for a mentor and then we kiss.

Kiss must mean something else because he's married

and I have an old body, not at all delicious.

It's my single pizza-eating daughter who shouldn't tarry.

 

Kiss must mean something else because he's married

though his wife, who doesn't look like his wife, is with another man.

It's my single pizza-eating daughter who shouldn't tarry.

He wears two ornate wedding rings on his right hand

 

though his wife, who doesn't look like his wife, is with another man.

He'd just lost a daughter when he showered praise.

He wears two ornate wedding rings on his right hand.

Bypassing death the arc of love restores what was.

 

He'd just lost a daughter when he showered praise.

He's dead and on the page he's written criticism.

Bypassing death the arc of love restores what was.

I've misspelled a word in a poem I show him.

 

Phyllis Koestenbaum