A TRIBUTE
by Sarah M. Coursey

thank you

for making me want to cry at work
but I can't
(because emotions are not
professional)
I always make it to the bathroom

thank you

for introducing me to Rilke
and the word quotidian
I admit
I am not a Scrabble star
(those obscure four letter words
get me every time)
but I do not let modesty blind me

words are dinosaurs
five minutes is a long time
we don't read anymore
but we talk and talk and talk
and talk until our battery dies

so thank you

for reminding me that every day
a poem
can touch something
somewhere
far from the mouths and ears
that cower and devour
far from the kidney punches -
- swift and silent -

poetry is not history
as history deletes itself