Alicia Ostriker (b.1937)
In Every Life
In every life there’s a moment or two
when the self disappears, the cruel wound
takes over, and then again
at times we are filled with sky
or with birds or
simply with the sugary tea on the table
said the old woman
I know what you mean said the tulip
about epiphanies
for instance a cloudless April sky
the approach of a butterfly
but as to the disappearing self
no
I have not yet experienced that
You are creating distinctions
that do not exist in reality
where “self” and “not-self” are like salt
in ocean, cloud in sky
oxygen in fire
said the philosophical dog
under the table scratching his balls
Alicia Ostriker (b. 1937) is an American poet, critic, and activist. Twice a finalist for the National Book Award, Ostriker has published numerous volumes of poetry, including Waiting for the Light (2017), The Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog (2014), and The Book of Seventy (2009), which received the Jewish National Book Award. In 2015 she was elected Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey, and is Professor Emerita of English at Rutgers University. This poem is from Poetry magazine (2011).
Selected by Amy Frykholm: amy@journeywithjesus.net
