Shelter in Poetry - Sophie Laettner "A Southern Element: My Heart is Buried in Venice was a gift"
Duke English Majors present: Shelter in Poetry,” a series dedicated to sharing some of our favorite poems as we shelter in place. Here we join the efforts of @williamsenglishdepartment" and the Academy of American Poets (#shelterinpoems), among others, to bring solace and solidarity to these uncertain times.
My Heart is buried in Venice is a gift
A Southern Element Collection
by Sophie Laettner, 20
English
2020 Terry Welby Tyler, Jr. Award for Poetry Winner
James, I realized today that “My Heart is Buried in Venice” was a gift
and that your name is an echo
to the grey three-quarters pullover
and the candles in churches which evoke grandfather
provoking the desire now, to be there
still feeling the heat and stillness of that summer
dreaming, then, I was pulling large lady finger shells out of my mouth
from the back of my mouth, out of my cheeks and throat, it stunning me
pulling these delicate, clean shells out and I thought how fragile they were
and how fragile my shell teeth looked, and I thought one of them between my thumb and pointer
finger and woke with the fear of breaking it
how can someone point their finger at someone they love
the ones to love most
and say, “are you stupid?”
and how can she forget it
and how can it hurt so much, still
you can see the indigo-deep-blue veins under her skin, reaching to her collar bones.
and she asks why, why can it hurt so much, still
and she says, “because your love is boundless.”
a real fear strikes hard in the heart-chord, like the clock half-past-nine: imagine if he destroyed
the family history. that burns tears.
and there was no way to know whether or not it was true, but to muster up the strength to ask.
to force breath out of an empty chest. to watch yourself say the words.
to perform it like you rehearsed it, and this being much more difficult
yet to speak with a voice shoot-from-the-green-earth-direct
natural, ancestral, respiring,
is a completely different thing.“
so, I hear you’re doing poetry now?”
is now forever and always?
it's the only language that makes sense.
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