Chagrin River Review
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  • Issue 11 (Spring 2018)
    • Grace Campbell
    • Christopher Acker
    • Jennifer Porter
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    • T. J. McGuire

Grace Curtis

Back to Issue 10


Godbwye

            for Gwyneth
​

All the words had been spoken,
            the ta-ta-ings, adios-ings,
Princesse, au revoir, echoes
            of good-day, madam, good-
noon, good sir, good child,
            good-past-noon, all the words
we use to mark the crush of ebb.
            In his farewell, Washington
said, I am influenced
            by no diminution of zeal
for your future, wishing for more
            than a simple ciao
as he departed, as in parting--
            at a party, an expatriation,
excision--is such sweet sorrow.
            In Miyazaki's farewell film,
"The Wind Rises,"
            Caproni insists Airplanes
are beautiful dreams, a dream
            vacation abroad, a bon voyage,
contraction, interjection. An Olde
            Englishman would bend it
God be w'ye assuming
            the sky-blue span
of forever, an admonition
            to his God, and how
the heart can break
            at that moment, so long;
so long you have held
            my heart in your hands,
the parting, release, contract,
            a fist of constriction. How
Washington anguished
            over adieu. Nothing
is simple, no uncoupling
            unconscious, no valedictory
address on the stoop,
            tear-less, no point
on the spectrum, good-less.
            godbwye, godbwye,
my love, I would
            I were thy bird.


Picture
Grace Curtis’ book, The Shape of a Box, was published in 2014 by Dos Madres Press. Her chapbook, The Surly Bonds of Earth, was selected by Stephen Dunn as the 2010 winner of the Lettre Sauvage chapbook contest, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart award. Her prose and poetry has been or is forthcoming in such journals as Sou’wester, The Baltimore Review, Waccamaw Literary Journal, Blood Orange Review, and others.
www.gracecurtispoetry.com ​


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