May 24, 2010
“b o d y”
Look closely at the letters. Can you see,
entering (stage right), then floating full,
then heading off — so soon —
how like a little kohl-rimmed moon
o plots her course from b to d
entering (stage right), then floating full,
then heading off — so soon —
how like a little kohl-rimmed moon
o plots her course from b to d
— as y, unanswered, knocks at the stage door?
Looked at too long, words fail,
phase out. Ask, now that body shines
no longer, by what light you learn these lines
and what the b and d stood for.
“b o d y” is © 2001 by The Literary Estate of James Merrill at Washington University, and is used by their permission. Image: Jupiter’s Moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Photograph: NASA/ JHU-APL/Southwest Research Institute.
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By James Merrill
James Merrill was born in New York City on March 3, 1926, and lived in Stonington, Connecticut. He was the author of twelve books of poems, which won him two National Book Awards.
