"Gone"

Photo by Brent

Gone

 

by Lia Purpura

 

 

It's that, when I'm gone, 

(and right off this is tricky) 

I won't be worried 

about being gone. 

I won't be here 

to miss anything. 

I want now, sure, 

all I've been gathering 

since I was born, 

but later 

when I no longer have it, 

(which might be 

a state everlasting, who knows?) 

this moment right now 

(stand closer, love, 

you can't be too close), 

is not a thing I'll know to miss. 

I doubt I'll miss it. 

I can't get over this.

  

Copyright © 2013 by Lia Purpura. 

Lia Purpura is the author of seven collections of poems, essays, and translations, including King Baby (Alice James Books, 2008). She is Writer in Residence at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and on the faculty of the Rainier Writing Workshop. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Purpura will be on a panel titled "The Poetic Impulse" at the Academy's Poets Forum in New York City, October 24-26.