Daniel Wolff: Choice of the week [ed. Terence Winch]

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The drift of the world

you are not forgotten How could such a big part of us ever be?

When you left this life, a marker fell. Time slowly whirled by, and who

we remembered you how free worked. But even if the current carried your memory

gone, the tide brought you back. We forgot a little, then we remembered more. And through

the give and take, you stayed right here. The only thing washed downstream

that’s how we remembered you. All we need is to narrow our vision –

Concentrate on the essentials – and you come back, perfect, like in a dream,

your one hand went up in a wave. You remember us! And we forgot

nothing nothing. how could we If we forgot you, we would be lost. Never

Think of the other shore – where we’re supposed to be going and you’re supposed to be

wait. In this world, in this world we must have you, must remember.

Why doesn’t life stop? Why does everything always have to pull away, including you? we

Stand right here where it all began and watch the memory of you (who

we are – what else?) drifts. We do what we can: we keep forgetting you.

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Daniel Wolff’s latest collection of poetry is More Poems about Money (Four Way Books, 2022). [“The Drift of the World,” written for poet William Bronk, first appeared, in a slightly different version, in The Literary Review.]

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Daniel Leary, Bill in a Red Chair, monotype, 20 x 16, 1997. Portrait of William Bronk (1918–99).