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  • For Alun Lewis, Poet (1915–1944), and: Blows
  • Elisabeth Murawski (bio)

For Alun Lewis, Poet (1915–1944)

They found him,a bullet in his head,

the right temple,lying near the officers'

latrines. The army courttweaked facts, claimed

he'd slippedon rough terrain,

that the gun layon the ground,

not in his hand.Perhaps he saw

a rightnessto the moment

not to be improved on,perfect in its tension

as "the poisedpied kingfisher

deep darting for a fish."Perhaps he heard [End Page 200]

the bullet sayDo it

and reactedspontaneously,

like a beggaroffered a coin. [End Page 201]

Blows

Strangers lived behindthose closed doors.My sister's husbandstopped the car

and we looked. Memoriesof rabbits dozingin their pens, creakingfloorboards. Born

in this house. Not me,but my cousin Jackiegrew up here. Herfather bought it

when I was two.An only child, Jackiehad everythingI wanted: brand-new

clothes and toys,a mother who spoke up.Mine sat huddledin the back seat,

searching her pursefor gum. She aloneof her many siblingsnever owned a home.

Undoing the foil:Daddy could have bought it. [End Page 202] A mistake to pass it up.She looked solemn

and bewildered, like someonewho's been stabbedand doesn't know it yet,the blade's so thin. [End Page 203]

Elisabeth Murawski

elisabeth murawski is the author of Zorba's Daughter, which received the May Swenson Poetry Award; Moon and Mercury; and two chapbooks. Heiress will be published by Texas Review Press this fall. A Hawthornden fellow, her publications include The Yale Review, FIELD, and The Hudson Review. She resides in Alexandria, Virginia.

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