Sixty by Stephen Dunn
Sixty
Stephen DunnBecause in my family the heart goes first
and hardly anybody makes it out of his fifties,
I think I’ll stay up late with a few bandits
of my choice and resist good advice.
I’ll invent a secret scroll lost by Egyptians
and reveal its contents: the directions
to your house, recipes for forgiveness.
History says that my ventricles are stone alleys,
my heart itself a city with a terrorist
holed up in the mayor’s office.
I’m in the mood to punctuate
only with that maker of promises, the colon:
next, next, next, it says, God bless it.
As Garcia Lorca may have written: some people
forget to live as if a great arsenic lobster
could fall on their heads at any moment.
My sixtieth birthday is tomorrow.
Come, play poker with me,
I want to be taken to the cleaners.
I’ve had it with all stingy-hearted sons of bitches.
A heart is to be spent. As for me, I’ll share
my mulcher with anyone who needs to mulch.
It’s time to give up search for the invisible.
On the best of days there’s little more
than the faintest intimations. The millenium,
my dear, is sure to disappoint us.
I think I’ll keep on describing things
to ensure that they really happened.
MARGINALIA
Because I wouldn’t have it any other way.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Different Hours by Stephen Dunn, published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“Pulitzer Prize – Winner, 2001
Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
A wise and graceful new collection by one of our “major, indispensable poets” (Sidney Lea). The mysteries of Eros and Thanatos, the stubborn endurance of mind and body in the face of diminishment–these are the undercurrents of Stephen Dunn’s eleventh volume. “I am interested in exploring the ‘different’ hours,” he says, “not only of one’s life, but also of the larger historical and philosophical life beyond the personal.”” (Source)
ABOUT STEPHEN DUNN
Poet Stephen Dunn was born on June 24, 1939 in New York City. The first of his family to go to college, Dunn earned a BA from Hofstra University on a basketball scholarship and later worked in advertising. Dunn attended the New School and earned an MA in creative writing from Syracuse University, where he studied with Philip Booth, Donald Justice, and W.D. Snodgrass. Dunn was the author of numerous books of poetry, including Pagan Virtues (2019); Keeper of Limits (2015); Lines… (more)
Read more poems by Stephen Dunn • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: generosity • mortality • aging • Or browse the index
- If this work resonates with you, please consider supporting the archive. Thank you for reading.
rek
one of the best poems ever…
Pingback: in my room « Jessica Roy
Summer
This poem reminds me of my dad. I remember when my dad turned 50. He said the saddest thing. That he thought he would never make it. That his dad had died of a heart attack at 49. That both his grandfathers had died young. It must be hard to outlive your loved ones.
Also love: “a heart is to be spent”.
Sixty by Stephen Dunn « The Broken Muse
[…] This poem makes me rather happy. […]
Boro
There’s a sense of pride in me whenever I read these pieces. It feels like I know the author, like I get them, like they get me, but most of all that I am complete. That I am okay. It feels so good when I come across a line on a bumper sticker or on the window of a bus, google it and this page comes up. I will never be alone again.
Wanjiku Boro
Reading this piece (including T’s section) at a time where I’d give anything to have it some other way.