Good morning. It's Wednesday, July 29, and the Silent Reading Party is tonight, and E. J. Koh is the special guest!
So, this morning we're taking a look back at the Message to the City that E. J. made for us—made for you—back in March.
She begins: "Hi, Seattle. How are you holding up?" (Uhhh, don't ask!)
"I am grateful to read you a poem, and it's for you," she goes on. "It's my love letter to you."
Here is the text of the poem if you want to follow along:
Happy
The sound of a poem—it starts with the footsteps
of an ant over the log we sit on. We hold up steaming mugs
and we commit our anxieties to the air, for these anxieties
to become air, warmer and fresher as they rise away.The prologue prolongs the holy word—light.
There is light eschewed from our bodies—in all places,
a source of its own, highlighting our features with pale
observable lightness as it does to breasts and breath.The middle begins with rocks falling off a cliff-face
into the water. This is the argument against time that passes
through our bodies, sinks to the bottom of what used to be,
raging at the seconds, sweeter and more stale as they leave us.Crisis is shaped like an owl pellet we open together,
the tiny bones, beaks, and fur. There is a little tooth, a puff
of feather. The further we peel back the translucent layers,
the more heaven is dimmed by our bright and curious joy.The solar system is a clock. It turns as we pull
the tulle, leave the linen, divide the diamond, christen
the chrysanthemum, circle the Sound—as we, ourselves,
pull back into solace. We are witnesses of each other.Afterword, we are unconcealed. Soon there is no
difference between words, and then things. We are beginning.
We are elliptical. You asked me across the aisle of the market,
eating your croquette, “How can you make a poem happy?”
Like all great art, this poem has only gotten better with time.
Thank you, again, E. J., for the gift of this poem—thank you for writing it, and thank you for sharing it with the whole city.
We can't wait to see you tonight at the party!
* *
Previously in this series: