Sonnet
for Judith Moore
The small stone towers pictured on the other side of this postcard
are called Lanterns of the Dead. Lights are displayed at night in those tiny
porthole-like openings at the top to indicate the location of cemeteries,
so penitents hiking through graveyards by torchlight (a popular
activity here, the allure of which is a complete mystery to me)
can find their way. The lace pillow slips in this hotel look as if
they’re crocheted from loops of white icing. This creates the sensation
that one is sleeping with one’s head on a large unbaked, rectangular
pastry. The hotel manager, a man with a drooping mustache, greets his
squirmy young dog each morning by cooing, "Hello, Mr. Wiggling
Gentleman."
Of course this sounds ever so much better in French. That’s all for now,
dear.
Kiss the baby for me. I trust his custardy little mind remains sweetly
unencumbered by thought. Determined as I am to return from this mission
in one piece, I see now why your daily prayers are soooo important.
-– Amy Gerstler
from No Tell Motel
About the poem Gerstler comments: << "Sonnet" is one in what I hope will be a series of poems written using a 1911 set of the Encyclopedia Britannica that I was given as a gift, a present I am still reeling from the generosity of. I'm trying to write one poem for every volume of the encyclopedia, using an encyclopedia entry from each volume (or multiple entries) as a jumping off point for the poem. In this case, I opened the "L-Lor" encyclopedia to the entry: "Lanterns of the Dead" and began there. >>
Editor's note: Born in Oklahoma, Judith Moore (1940-2006) grew up in New York and Tallahasee and lived for many years in the state of Washington before moving to California and commencing a career as a writer and editor. Based in Berkeley, she worked as a senior editor at the San Diego Reader in which capacity she befriended numerous American poets, getting them to write prose articles on subjects other than poetry. (When she found out that I collect stamps, for example, she had me come to San Diego to check out the philately scene there.) Moore's own books include Fat Girl (2005) and The Left Coast of Paradise: California and the American Heart (1987). She won a Guggenheim Fellowship and two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. The poets and writers whose work she ceaselessly promoted miss her and mourn her parting.
-- David Lehman
