Celebrate National Poetry Month My love, I was so wrong. Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before. I am more with you than I ever could have imagined. So close you look past me when wondering where I am. It’s OK. I know that to be human is to be farsighted. But feel me now, walking the chambers of your heart, pressing my palms to the soft walls of your living. Why did no one tell us that to die is to be reincarnated in those we love while they are still alive? ... - Andrea Gibson, American spoken-word poet (1975-2025) excerpt from "Love Letter from the Afterlife" in their final collection, You Better Be Lightning (images: New City Library logo; background photo of a pink lotus flower in bloom, courtesy of Aarn Giri on Unsplash)
Happy #NationalPoetryMonth!
Here's an excerpt from spoken-word poet Andrea Gibson's "Love Letter from the Afterlife," from their award-winning collection YOU BETTER BE LIGHTNING.
This was the last poem they wrote.
You can read (& hear) more of their work on hoopla:
buff.ly/OMs1NTW
#NPM2026
![1
Bright orange in the morning
cupping the fragrant air
of the upstate summer.
All my aunt remembered of Armenia.
In the hot sun,
I look them dead center--
orange paper streaked black;
pollen gets in my nose.
When I look into the pit,
the base of the pistil's missing.
2
When the buttery light of the moon
falls on them,
I see into their eyes.
Men and women who bore my name
have gone from face to bone
with the quickness that night
has made the poppies
into nothing.
3
Not only for Armenia
do these poppies give up their petals.
4
Off long stems black eyes sway
in the morning wind.
The anther sacs are busted--
filaments rise past my window.
- Peter Balakian, Armenian-American poet (1951 – )
"Poppies" from June-Tree: New and Selected Poems [1974-2000]
(images: New City Library logo; background photo: A sea of wild poppies on the track between Stepanakert and Alaverdi in Armenia by Alexandr Hovhannisyan, courtesy of Unsplash)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fb76l5z2gla6f6cjcqxxcrun/bafkreiamj3ronspm643kcnnakrfsug4xjbwod6ffcspyx4dbq5zi4l3vbq)
