I met here at the Poetry Center today
with Janice Dewey's class.
And they had read my first book, Weighing Light,
and they asked me to read a few poems from that,
which I'm happy to do.
The first one is called "And Day Brought Back My Night."
The title, as some of you may gather, was stolen from Milton.
He has a wonderful sonnet.
My favorite poem by Milton probably
has a sonnet about his late wife.
And the last line of which, it's a dream about her,
and during the dream he believes that she's still alive.
In the last line, he wakes up, and she flees from him
and day brings back his night.
And day brought that my night.
It was so simple.
You came back to me, and I was happy.
Nothing seemed to matter but that.
That you had gone away from me and lived for days with him,
it didn't matter.
That I had been left to care for our old dog and house
alone couldn't have mattered less.
On all this, you and I and our happy dog agreed.
We slept.
The world was worryless.
I woke in the morning, brimming with old joys
until the fact checker showed up late for work and started in.
Item, it's years, not days.
Item, you had no dog.
Item, she isn't back.
In fact, she just remarried.
And oh yes, item, you left her.
Remember?
I did.
I do.