Photographs in the Book
You tire after
paging through Treasures of the Buddha,
while I read captions and fill in
some anecdotal information,
such as Avalokiteshvara being a bodhisattva
with many arms so as to be able
to embrace all those who suffer,
which makes me grateful for my two arms
and how I try to support you
through your further descent
into your narrative into unknowing.
You say that you want to be noticed
for what you know too so I acquiesce
and you interpret what you see
from the photographs in the book
to what patients are doing in their event circle,
when I say aloud, “I hope these images
nourish you and find their way into your dreams.”
After I walk you back to your room
I assist you into your bed but you resist;
you are aware our time together
for the day is over, yet you are overtaken
by exhaustion, nearly immediately go to sleep.
Driving home, I feel the tug of your absence.
Wally Swist’s recent essays, poems, and translations have appeared in Chicago Quarterly Review, Commonweal, Helaling Muse, Illuminations, Pensive, and Your Impossible Voice. Forthcoming titles include If You’re the Dreamer, I’m the Dream: Selected Translations from The Book of Hours, from the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, from Finishing Line Press. Kelsay Books will publish his book, Aperture, poems regarding his wife’s struggle with Alzheimer’s, in the summer of 2025. His book Huang Po and the Dimensions of Love (Southern Illinois University Press, 2012) won the 2011 Crab Orchard Poetry Prize.
Amethyst Review 