Sad Poets Society № 13

Remembering what's no longer here with Linda Gregg

Photo by Akira on Unsplash

Welcome to this month’s meeting of the Sad Poets Society. Today, we’ll be discussing “The Presence In Absence” by Linda Gregg. Let’s get into it.

The Presence In Absence

BY LINDA GREGG

Poetry is not made of words.
I can say it’s January when
it’s August. I can say, “The scent
of wisteria on the second floor
of my grandmother’s house
with the door open onto the porch
in Petaluma,” while I’m living
an hour’s drive from the Mexican
border town of Ojinaga.
It is possible to be with someone
who is gone. Like the silence which
continues here in the desert while
the night train passes through Marfa
louder and louder, like the dogs whining
and barking after the train is gone.

At first glance, it’s bold to begin a poem by stating that poetry is not made of words. What is poetry if not a mass of words strung together? But there’s a truth to it, beneath the surface. Poetry is not made of words; words are merely facilitators in this instance. Poetry is truth, or at least the search for it.