Separation by W. S. Merwin
Separation
W. S. MerwinYour absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color.
MARGINALIA
Today I was at the bookstore, sneaking pictures of books and strangers. And then: something falls out from the shelf, at my feet. I pick it up, dust it off, as I am wont to do of the things that come to break my heart in tiny little pieces. And what do I know – a poem:
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in The Second Four Books of Poems by W. S. Merwin, published by Copper Canyon Press, 1993. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“W.S. Merwin’s Second Four Books of Poems includes some of the most startlingly original and influential poetry of the second half of this century, a poetry that has moved, as Richard Howard has written, “from preterition to presence to prophecy.”” (Source)
ABOUT W. S. MERWIN
William Stanley (W.S.) Merwin was born in New York City in 1927 and raised in New Jersey and Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of a Presbyterian minister. His numerous collections of poetry, his translations, and his books of prose have won praise over seven decades. He won nearly every award available to an American poet, and he was named U.S. poet laureate twice. His first collection of poetry, A Mask for Janus (1952), was chosen for the Yale Younger Poets Prize. Merwin is also an… (more)
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ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: absence • emotion • loss • Or browse the index
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