In Extremis
Rent from DeepDyve- In Extremis
For Chana Bloch
"The words of the dying are subjectto the laws of scarcity" you once wrotein a poem juxtaposing the death of Socrateswith that of your own father.
Saving his "every spark"into those notebookscovered with pretend marble.
"Every spark" is what you left us,but caught, breathed upon, flamed,burnished, crafted and left to glowa ner tamid on every page.
I picture you bending over your pen as it tookto paper, at the point of contact another poem,Chana Bloch, juicy with your irony, and anotherpoem, Chana Bloch, wisely historic up to the presentmoment, Chana, and another perfectly imaged, ChanaBloch, and another, psychologically accurate, and anotherthrobbing.
I was not privileged to hear your last words, my friend,and so I clingto all the others. [End Page 71]
Doreen Stock lives in Fairfax, California. Her works include: The Politics of Splendor (Alcatraz Editions, 1984), original poetry with translations from the Russian of Marina Tsvetaeva and Anna Akhmatova; Before We Have Nowhere to Stand (Lost Horse Press, 2012), an anthology of responses to the Israeli/Palestinian struggle; "The Oil Poem," which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize; In Place of Me, poems selected and with an introduction by Jack Hirschman (Mine Gallery Editions, 2015); and Three Tales from the Archives of Love (Norfolk Press, forthcoming), a work of historical fiction. A selection of poems and translations and an interview have been archived at Marin Poets Live! (http://www.marinlibrary.org/marin-poets-tv-show/).
