FOR THE FEMALE SUICIDES
You thought it would be different from then on.
The others, every day, would think of you.
Yet loved ones felt betrayed, and they went on.
They didn’t weigh the heft of each flat stone,
Or feel the murky brilliance of the blue.
You thought it would be different from then on;
You thought they’d understand your deep impression.
You thought they needed proof to make it true.
Yet loved ones felt betrayed, and they went on.
What happened in the oven of depression
Was that you eked away: Assia too.
You thought it would be different from then on,
And so it was, as well, for your friend Anne:
Your taxi-driver, death, charged up your ego.
Yet loved ones felt betrayed, and they went on.
When you leave people, there is a realization:
They’re less important than your need to go.
You thought it would be different from then on.
Yet loved ones felt betrayed, and they went on.
—from Rattle #44, Summer 2014
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Kim Bridgford: “Donald Justice was my teacher, and I have always loved his work. I have enjoyed re-thinking some of his work through a female lens. I founded The Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project, a comprehensive database of women poets, so the issue of gender is often on my mind.” (website)
