"Entry for Not an Island" by Gabriel Jesiolowski

[View this email on a browser]( [Forward to a friend]( [facebook-icon]( [tumblr-icon]( [twitter-icon]( June 22, 2018 [Entry for Not an Island]( [Gabriel Jesiolowski]( for Rohen where the sea circles around the island in a star pattern – where in the center of grieving we are disoriented, skinless – where I wade into the field . . . the scent of sun on wheat – where the horses bow in & out, kick up a hoof, satisfied, perhaps, in their available bodies – where I’ve located a tiny refuge : the horizontal view from the house on stilts – where we hide the part of us that shudders, without a script – where in grief, even our own stories feel vacant – where you hear yourself telling the story & at the same time you think that’s not it, that’s really not it – where the ice plants glow in a translucent bandage across the cliff face – where impermanence is the direct expression of emptiness & emptiness is the best description of reality – where you wake from sleep to see someone leaving, but only the drape of their scarf across their back – if grief is a shining fruit [Like this on Facebook]( [Share via Twitter]( Copyright © 2018 Gabriel Jesiolowski. Used with permission of the author. [Gabriel Jesiolowski reads "Entry for Not an Island."]( About This Poem “Months after the greyhound’s passing on Lopez Island, I kept trying to give grief a form. I wanted to breathe without it draping over my shoulders like an X-ray apron. But grief has the power to shape-shift. I remember walking up the dirt drive in twilight, meeting the gazes of horses in the field. We were all body, no body, an island, a shadow. Loss is also a gift. Then it seemed clear.” —Gabriel Jesiolowski [Gabriel Jesiolowski]( Gabriel Jesiolowski is a writer, artist and curator. Their debut poetry collection, As Burning Leaves (Red Hen Press, 2017), won the Benjamin Saltman Award. They live in Los Angeles. [As Burning Leaves]( Poetry by Jesiolowski [As Burning Leaves]( (Red Hen Press, 2017) "Nox [Excerpts]" by Anne Carson [read-more]( "Seeing the Body" by Rachel Eliza Griffiths [read-more]( "After tagging the dust your body is made of" by Jen Tynes [read-more]( June Guest Editor: D. A. Powell Thanks to D. A. Powell, author of Repast: Tea, Lunch, and Cocktails (Graywolf Press, 2014), who curated Poem-a-Day this month. Read more about [Powell]( and our [guest editors for the year.]( Help Support Poem-a-Day If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a [monthly donation]( or [one-time gift]( to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today’s poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! [Small-Blue-RGB-poets.org-Logo]( Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit [Poets.org](. You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click [here](. © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038