What is this fierce light
for Lance Anthony (1964-2025)
Winter already and the world
gathering again like snow
The past stretched over the field
impenetrable
I didn’t know others would be going so soon
What is this fierce light that drives
one life into the next
That forces the body’s loneliness
into higher and higher drifts
I slip down through them
and the dead rush past
I climb up toward trembling
where the soul leaps from the body —
A swirling wind carrying bits of chairs
barn doors and rattling dishes
from a god’s basement
When I said I wanted language for this
I meant I wanted
the impossible