_________________________________________
Parting
after Hugo Ball
don’t go is what I want you to tell me
the rainless wind from the south
will make me long for you
tell me these are beautiful days
to have you here to look at your mouth
and to listen
don’t go
tell me life pleases you
tell my voice to go on and on
tell me you will be happy and of good cheer
even when I am gone
tell me I’m stupid
a child or feathers and a small brain
held in your hand
then tell me I know my way back to you
even at night
even in the rain
that hides the stars from my sight
______________________________________
Anselm Hollo was born on 12 April 1934 in Helsinki, Finland. He died at age 78 on 29 January 2013 in Boulder, Colorado. For more information, click here.
______________________________________
Jani Hanninen (Finland), p. b. serie, acrylic on canvas, 2016.
Anselm— such a force of nature. I love the almost childlike voice of this poem. Anselm in his way could be beautifully childlike too
Posted by: Clarinda | April 05, 2022 at 09:14 PM
Wonderful poem. Wonderful man.
Posted by: Ron Padgett | April 05, 2022 at 10:21 PM
a friend since the 1960s, I was happy to see him in this century a few years before he passed and he was still his uniquely engaging self, like his poems...
Posted by: lally | April 05, 2022 at 10:57 PM
Miss him so much! Here he lives again!
Posted by: Maureen Owen | April 06, 2022 at 12:06 PM
Admirable presentation of a fine poem. Once when I got John Ashbery into a discussion of whether God exists, I mentioned "Saint Anselm's proof" and John replied that he thought it was hollow.
Posted by: David Lehman | April 06, 2022 at 01:18 PM
Even when reading such a beautiful sweet love poem, I hear Anselm's big philosophical laugh and I smile. Thanks for posting this!
Posted by: Chris Mason | April 06, 2022 at 04:55 PM
I was going to say a truly missed presence, but his poems remain and in that sense so does he.
Thanks for remembering.
Posted by: Simon Schuchat | April 09, 2022 at 08:14 AM
Nice. Anselm was such a presence. Thanks
Posted by: Phyllis Rosenzweig | April 09, 2022 at 02:36 PM
I wish we COULD tell his voice to go on and on.
Posted by: Cinda Kornblum | April 11, 2022 at 07:19 PM