Camille Roy
Word count: 272
Paragraphs: 3
Poem
I know a Buddhist
says
death
is a trick.
The dead
are around the corner.
Not gone
just almost here.
Listen.
Their radiant
bodies
hiss steam.
The breath
of the dead.
Is it their song?
Or just
expelled air,
the hissing,
Listen, he says.
Again.
It’s
their way
of urging us,
Dive
into the teeming present
into that welt
belt.
I say
No to the
No
presence other than
a poem
one in which a dapper
tomorrow shines.
Because what is not here
shines.
Because I’d rather go on
in my mistake
dragging my griefs
through the dark museum.
Camille Roy 1/16/2024
Camille Roy is a writer of fiction, poetry, and plays. Her fiction collection Honey Mine was published by Nightboat in 2021. Previous books include Sherwood Forest, poetry and prose from Futurepoem, and Cheap Speech, a play from Leroy Chapbooks, as well as Swarm (fiction, from Black Star Series). She co-edited Biting The Error: Writers Explore Narrative (Coach House), a book of essays by writers on their own experimental prose practices. Earlier books include The Rosy Medallions (Kelsey St. Press) and Cold Heaven (Leslie Scalapino's O Books). Recent work has been published in Field Notes #4 (UK), Amerarcana, and is forthcoming in Baest. More information can be found at https://www.camilleroy.me/.