What are you reading Ophélie
Why have you typed my name in bold
Because you are important to me
I do not consider myself important
You are
This poem is about your summer
My summer
What are you reading
The Year of Magical Thinking
Is that the Joan Didion book
Yes
Look at the cover Joe
What do you see
The authors name and the title of the book
Do you see anything else
Not really
Look closely
The colours of the individual letters vary
Red blue and silver
Can you see two names
Joan
And
John
Why do you think that is
Well obviously Joan was the author
But John who is John
John Dunne was Joan’s husband
In late 2003 he suffered a fatal coronary
The book is about the loss of John
And the illness of Joan’s daughter Quintana Roo
It is a very powerful book
Joan is one of my favourite writers
I have read many of her books
Why are reading it now
Because I am sad Joe
Why sad as the day is quite beautiful
Everything is drenched in colour
Everything is beautiful
That is why I am sad
As I know that this is so transient
In the blink of an eye it will be over
Like the poor boy who drowned in the bay last year
As a poet you must realise that
I do and yes I feel a sadness that this might end
But look at it this way
You are on a train journey
It is a beautiful train journey
You can see nothing but beauty
You are enjoying this train journey
And then you arrive at your destination
Which is plain and without much beauty
All of a sudden you feel sad
Bleak you feel dirty
Reality has overwhelmed you
You sit in a coffee bar and close your eyes
What thoughts pass through your mind
The thoughts of the journey
It is not always the destination
But the journey
We are on our journey at present
We both know that the chill winds are not far away
Please read and finish Joan’s book
But always keep a balance
You are not sad
You just see things within a sharp white light as I do