When a man dies,
When a man dies, his secrets bond like crystals, like frost on a window. His last breath obscures the glass. Anne Michaels
Anne Michaels
Even as a child,
Even as a child, even as my blood-past was drained from me, I understood that if I were strong enough to accept it, I was being offered a second history. Anne Michaels
The spirit in the
The spirit in the body is like wine in a glass; when it spills, it seeps into air and earth and light….It’s a mistake to think it’s the small things we control and not the large, it’s the other way around! We can’t stop the small accident, the tiny detail that conspires into fate: the … Read more
Though the contradictions of
Though the contradictions of war seem sudden and simultaneous, history stalks before it strikes. Something tolerated soon becomes something good. Anne Michaels
The dead leave us
The dead leave us starving with mouths full of love.” from “Memoriam Anne Michaels
When my parents were
When my parents were liberated, four years before I was born, they found that the ordinary world outside the camp had been eradicated. There was no more simple meal, no thing was less than extraordinary: a fork, a mattress, a clean shirt, a book. Not to mention such things that can make one weep: an … Read more
I wanted a line
I wanted a line in a poem to be the hollow ney of the dervish orchestra whose plaintive wail is a call to God. But all I achieved was awkward shrieking. Not even the pure shriek of a reed in the rain. Anne Michaels
…when we say we’re
…when we say we’re looking for a spiritual adviser, we’re really looking for someone to tell us what to do with our bodies. Decisions of the flesh. We forget to learn from pleasure as well as pain. Anne Michaels
If love wants you;
If love wants you; if you’ve been melted down to stars, you will love with lungs and gills; with feathers and scales; with warm blood and cold. Anne Michaels
History is the gradual
History is the gradual instant Anne Michaels