All around the island I feel her ghost and wonder what more she would’ve made— There’s flaking lead paint, vines, trees growing inside buildings and under the asbestos. There is a girl, only 22, half shadow, one arm crisp, still in the frame, getting herself on paper. Alone in the house, I expect Francesca every time I turn a corner, expect her eyes soulful and sullen, half caught/half deserting, mooning up at me. Adjust the aperture, let it all in. In the summer, there’s a suicide in my family, not the first. That decision to exit so heavy on everyone left behind. Some ghosts weigh a ton, heave themselves on your back, never leave. Others whisper you into the next day. Francesca, I never knew you. Come close. Come back. Let all of you be seen.
KC Trommer is the author of We Call Them Beautiful (Diode Editions, 2019). A Spanish-language translation is forthcoming in 2024 from Cuarto Propio, translated by the Chilean poet Elisa Montesinos. KC is founder of the online poetry mapping project QUEENSBOUND. Since 2021, she has been poet-in-residence on Governors Island, through LMCC's Residency Program, Works on Water, and the NYU Gallatin WetLab. She lives in Jackson Heights, Queens, with her son.
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4/10 / Meet the Artist with visiting poet-in-residence Tyler Mills / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 6:00 pm EST / Free
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love this poem
What beautiful, soulful work this poem is. I read and re-read feeling the nuances of connection and loss and yearning curiosity. Great share.