The Sun is Murmuring
for camille paglia
years before cancer
ever kissed my skin
i can remember you
freaking out as sunlight
pierced its way
through the classroom
window shades
paralyzing any thoughts
of modernism
that might have
come to you
at 8:30 in the morning
on a monday
leaving us unable
to determine
whether poe
was talking about
teeth or penises
how you said
there might never
be any way
to tell
the difference
i remember sitting
on your office couch
as you counseled me
about the future
as we both
said a prayer
for snow
& i thought
to myself
why is it
that those
who offer counsel
are often the most
in need of it
i remember carrying
your collection
of samuel taylor coleridge
that fred
had given me
for christmas
through the streets of old city
as a warm rain
caressed the pavement
& i struggled
to suspend
my disbelief
i remember how
in the right light
you almost took on
the spirit of
the ancient mariner
as i twirled
through washington square park
with an empty beer bottle
in my other hand
high on my own youth
like peter pan on opium
yours already fading then
like the setting sun
that once hunted
us both
everywhere
we went.
*
John Dorsey is the former Poet Laureate of Belle, MO. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Which Way to the River: Selected Poems: 2016-2020 (OAC Books, 2020), Pocatello Wildflower, (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2023), and 100 Mornings, (Sacred Parasite, 2025).
