HOME /  Poem :  A weekly poem, read by the author.

"Loss Loved Me"

By |Posted Tuesday, June 13, 2006, at 5:26 AM

Click here to listen to Kathryn Maris read this poem.


Loss loved me, and suddenly: loss loved me not.
I tried to be winsome, I tried following

my father's rule: be aloof if you want to allure!
I loaded my speech with emptiness.

I let him kneel at my feet with a flame.
I played goddess to his supplicant.

I smiled as he stalked me
but tilted my head in sadness, deceptively.

Still he left, and now what? It's spring—
and worse—there is no wind

and I am nothing without the wind
and I am even less in the too-bright sun.

I said goodbye to my white-haired love
Who kissed me with his tongue.

I said, "Goodbye. Goodbye. The attention was fun."
He said, "Not to worry, girl—it's only just begun."

MYSLATE
MySlate is a new tool that lets you track your favorite parts of Slate. You can follow authors and sections, track comment threads you're interested in, and more.
SLATE'S MOST VIRAL

Kathryn Maris, author of The Book of Jobs, teaches creative writing at Kingston University and Morley College in London.

For Slate's poetry submission guidelines, click spacerhereyeshyperlinkPoetry SubmissionsSlate reads new poems from Oct. 1 to April 30. Manuscripts sent between May 1 and Sept. 30 will not be considered.To submit poems: Send, as a single attached document, up to three poems of no more than 50 lines each to editors@slatepoems.com. Use the poet's name for the subject line of the e-mail and for the title of the attachment. We prefer Word documents (.doc or .docx) to PDFs.Please include a brief, professional cover letter, including publication history, in the body of your email. Please limit submissions to one per poet per annual reading period. Simultaneous submissions are OK. Slate no longer accepts poetry submissions by mail. The email address editors@slatepoems.com is for poetry submissions only (or to notify editors of acceptance elsewhere of a poem under consideration at Slate). Other inquiries, etc., will not be addressed.10000false220061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM63271989937000000020061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM632719899370000000.Clickhere to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.