Gail lapsed into a coma
yesterday afternoon and died peacefully
at 12:45pm today surrounded by
her sisters, parents and friends.
When filling out a “last
wishes” form, she said she
wanted people with her who
wanted to be there, trusted
it would happen as she
wished. We believe it did.
difficult but try it – circumvent
his hugs, his overwhelming presence,
look beyond the largeness of
his size, his voice, and
yes, his past, his pain –
were I to take a
portrait I would focus on
his ring, a heavy swirl
of silver with a turquoise
stone that’s eloquent in silence
fascinating in two ways –
her name, I thought it was
supposed to be a Christian
saint’s, did she have a
special dispensation? and if so, why?
her face, a peculiar prune,
bleached white and covered
with frail fuzz – I have
no memory of what she
taught, maybe it was spelling
her hair a lovely storm,
a white chrysanthemum reflecting
in its disarray the fluster problems
caused her – she’d cock her
head and look concerned, a
rueful smile, then asap return
to tried-and-true, procedures
being a lifeline for my opposite,
who recognized and valued
simple means above all else
they didn’t tell you there would
be advantages beyond promotions,
salary and savings – coworkers you
could trust, respect, enjoy, people
with real smiles, hearty laughter –
they didn’t tell you that
acquisitions would soon break
those bonds, we all moved on,
no longer keep in touch –
just remember, it was real
“. . . I think of him as
an anti-poet, an anti-god,
a Buddha, a cure for my suffering.
Michaux demonstrated a different
method and reason for writing. . . .
He suggested another way of being,
writing, thinking, observing, so unlike
any I had experienced. . . .”
she heard me in New Hampshire,
but offered no solutions
unlike his counterpart in “Portrait”
(Out here, Dadalus. Lazy little
schemer), this man could stand
apart from institutions and interpret
them for high school students,
demonstrating open mindedness and
enhancing his humanity – what he really
taught was sociology of religion
and set the stage for
my further course of study