Summing Up

/ Issue 11.1 /

How long does any How or Now survive?
Anyhow lasts as long as you like, I think,
but Now disappears in front of our eyes.
It comes and goes so quickly we are surprised.
We thought we’d have more time to work and play
and love, to raise children or puppy dogs,
to see our friends and write our books.
But now Now is slipping off, sliding
down a hill, turning left and out of sight.
No Now ever returns. At the same time,
It is true that all Nows are new.

Kelly Cherry

Kelly Cherry

Author of 25 books as of February 1, 10 chapbooks, 2 translations of classical drama. Former Poet Laureate of Virginia. Emeritus Member, Poets Corner, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, NYC. NEA, USIA, Rockefeller, inaugural recipient of the Hanes Poetry Prize from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, Bradley Lifetime Award, Phillabaum Award, Weinstein Award, others. Eudora Welty Professor Emerita of English and Evjue-Bascom Professor Emerita in the Humanities, University of Wisconsin Madison. Eminent Scholar, UAH, 2001-2005. Her newest book is Quartet for J. Robert Oppenheimer (poems).
Kelly Cherry

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Author: Kelly Cherry

Author of 25 books as of February 1, 10 chapbooks, 2 translations of classical drama. Former Poet Laureate of Virginia. Emeritus Member, Poets Corner, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, NYC. NEA, USIA, Rockefeller, inaugural recipient of the Hanes Poetry Prize from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, Bradley Lifetime Award, Phillabaum Award, Weinstein Award, others. Eudora Welty Professor Emerita of English and Evjue-Bascom Professor Emerita in the Humanities, University of Wisconsin Madison. Eminent Scholar, UAH, 2001-2005. Her newest book is Quartet for J. Robert Oppenheimer (poems).