The last time I read here at the Poetry Center
I read with Eloise Klein Healy.
And shortly after that, she contracted
a form of encephalitis that left her with one syllable.
One.
Imagine a poet with one syllable.
I'm glad to tell you that she has recovered
from that kind of deficit, which has never been recorded
in all of speech therapy.
She's recovered enough so that she's going to read at the--
what's it called?
Poets House.
Poets House in New York City with Maurya very soon.
Yeah, and her new book.
It's a pun on her aphasia, but it's called Another Phase.
So this one's for Eloise.
"The Basics."
"How the spoon dips into the bowl.
How it finds its way to the lips.
How lips open in time.
How the body cries out.
How it must.
How it cannot.
How we lift what we cannot lift.
How generous, allowing help.
How we don't want to need.
How we all need.
How touch heals.
How love touch makes us human.
How we forget what we know.
How we learn again.
How we forget what we wanted.
How what we want evolves.
How that mammoth we were stalking got away.
How this salmon, plump with eggs, returns."