POETRY

Dear Samuel (Can I Call You Sam?)

National Poetry Month Letters to Poets Series

Amy Jasek
2 min readApr 2, 2023

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Medium format film image by author

Where in Xanadu,
tormented soul,
could you
now be found whole?
With all of life’s blue
problems washed away,
in white robes
whose hopes
blossomed like a new day
evermore
from the shore
waving. Bowl
upon golden
bowl takes its toll.
So shipwrecked,
the serpent’s chase;
his hiss, amiss,
his bite, so sweet, replaced.

In the rain and sun
walking, thinking
undone
heart unblinking
swayed by emotion
I would walk with you
your discourse
a source
for modern poet’s news.
But the past
cannot last
for sinking
under the weight
of time’s marching.
Sailor’s gait,
harken to me:
my woe is so
it rolls upon the sea.

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