Give him a name, Henry, say; look how the form fills in,
as if you could read, in Henry's limbs,
in Henry's countenance,
Henry's dreams dancing in his head.
The book by his side is Henry's companion.
The book beside Henry is writing itself as we speak.
Meanwhile, a night-dark form in the shape of a man has occupied the sofa.
Somehow it has taken the place of the man,
the man we call Henry.
Pick up the book the absence of Henry was reading.
The book is night-dark and brilliant.
The book is writing itself as we read.
Maybe, the book says, Henry has gone for a walk in the woods
and found a small patch of small green lilies.
Maybe, the book says, Henry has set off the New World with his backpack.
The absence of Henry stirs in its sleep.
Added: Thursday, April 30, 2015 / Used with permission.
Photo by Al Bersbach.
Lee Sharkey is the author of Walking Backwards (Tupelo, 2016), Calendars of Fire (Tupelo, 2013), A Darker, Sweeter String, and eight earlier full-length poetry collections and chapbooks. Her poetry has appeared in Consequence, Crazyhorse, FIELD, Kenyon Review, Massachusetts Review, Nimrod, Seattle Review, and other journals. Her recognitions include the Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize, the Abraham Sutzkever Centennial Translation Prize, the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance’s Distinguished Achievement Award, and the 2018 Maine Literary Award in Short Poetry. With John Rosenwald, she co-edited the first and second Split This Rock festival chapbooks. Lee counts as her most important work the workshop she has facilitated for thirty-one years for adults recovering from mental illness.
