Excerpt from

Conclusively



The night was almost too long to bear.
Then there was evidence of mercy--a passing car--
milky air--and I could see
dry walls & gravel on the way to a highway
Atlantic for its grays.

Loss is the fulfillment of the Law.
Space collected on a long line.

I was eliminated as a locus of mothering--
a she--physical but imaginary as a restless daughter.

Why this body and not another?



Fanny Howe at the Academy of American Poets