“Your absence has gone through me”

W.S. Merwin’s poem “Separation” is perfect, a miniature masterpiece of metaphor.

It’s so perfect that I’m going to stop writing about it in just a second.

First, may I suggest memorizing it, keeping it tucked away in a mental jacket pocket?

4 thoughts on ““Your absence has gone through me””

Beautiful! I think what is standing out for me about the poems you’ve been picking is they are so misleadingly simple. I think what made me dislike poetry before was reading all of those long poems filled with allusions to Greek mythology that I had to read in school.

Carolyn O

November 19, 2013 at 3:12 pm

I love those long ones too, but I’ve really enjoyed finding these shorter poems to feature every week. 🙂

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