Doug Roy, Moonlighting, Cut Paper
LET THESE WORDS STAY
When night has come and the lights are finally out. Moon slips silently from the sky and I am finally on my way.
Let these words stay
When the medicine stops, when the doctors have rolled up their stained whites and shoved them into the hamper, when the last shovel is used.
Let these words stay
When your eyes are dry and you can look at people again, when you are laughing in an August morning, when you are holding a baby and looking into her face and smiling.
Let these words stay
I love you
_____________
Marc Janssen
Review by Dave Mehler
I’m hearing Jane Kenyon here, specifically her poem, “Let Evening Come.” I believe it’s a strong enough connection that Janssen’s allusion to it is direct and intentional. There is the technique of anaphora, or repeating a phrase in the beginning of each line or stanza, but also the list of concrete, mundane objects, as well as Kenyon’s characteristic touch of melancholy with metaphysical underpinning.
Marc ends with, Let these words stay / I love you
Kenyon ends hers with: Let it come, as it will, and don’t / be afraid. God does not leave us / comfortless, so let evening come.