I heard it on the radio,
A woman's voice saying,
I like for you to be
The space far away

Where poetry figures out
Why you are still
But not absent,
Why you can hear

From somewhere
What's coming next.
But her voice could not touch
What had flown away.

Nor could she kiss
My mouth, though I repeat
What was understood
Each night and each day.



About this poem
"What I offer in this dramatization is for you to experience the thrill and mystery of searching for knowledge or meaning or-above all-belonging. And then, for those of you committed to that search, to abide by the promise-to cross your heart-to keep at it."
-David Biespiel

About David Biespiel
David Biespiel is the author of "A Long High Whistle: Selected Columns" (Antilever Press, 2015). He is the president of the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters and teaches at Oregon State University. He lives in Portland, Ore.

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The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day[at]poets.org.


(c) 2016 David Biespiel. Originally published by the Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate