WEDNESDAYS WITH DENISE: December 6, 2023

Congratulations to Mary Jo Bang whose book A Film in which I Play Everyone was published earlier this fall by Graywolf.  Here’s a spectacular sample poem:

SPEAKING OF THE FUTURE, HAMLET

is saying, someday this day will be over.  
A moon will presumably still be above:  
a bone quiet, an inflatable in the scene 

—the cool blue swimming pool  
it finds itself in. And I will want to be. 
My mother, the Queen, will want only  

my father, the King. All will be want  
&get. And I will be me. And O, O,  
Ophelia—will be the essence of love.  

The love of a sister. Or, the love of the  
brother. Compassion. Forgiveness.  

All will be want & get. We will all be  
together, on stage & in dress, reciting  
our lines: “What a fine day. What a  

wonderful way. To be.” No sirens. Fifty  
stars, a cloud. A drawing of an all-night  
sky. We’ll be there. You as you. And I. 

 

Comments

[Emily Fragos]

I love Mary Jo Bang and here is yet another of her deeply felt, moving, and memorable poems. Thank you for posting it.

[David Lehman]

Terrific.

[Susan Aizenberg]

Wonderful; thanks. Have been a huge admirer of her work since her brilliant, heartbreaking _Elegy_.

[Terence Winch]

So inventive and impressive.

[Bruce Kawin]

Thank you for posting this brilliant poem.