Ode to Mitski 

By WILLIAM FARGASON

while driving today     to pick up groceries 
I drive over     the bridge where it would be 
so easy to drive     right off     the water  
a blanket to lay over     my head     its fevers  

I do want to live     most days     but today  
I don’t     I could     let go of the wheel  
and close my eyes     but Mitski in my speakers 
pulls me back to earth     she keeps my hands  

on the wheel when I want     and I so often 
want to die     Mitski I cannot speak
to you     like you speak to me     a thousand lilies 
rise up from the field     on the other side  

of the bridge     I will fix my eyes to the field  
with your help     I will make it across 

 

 

[Purchase Issue 29 here.]

William Fargason is the author of Velvet and Love Song to the Demon-Possessed Pigs of Gadara. His poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, Prairie Schooner, New England Review, and elsewhere. He lives with himself in College Park, Maryland. 

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Ode to Mitski 

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Celebrating The Common in Amman, Jordan

NEWS AND EVENTS
This May, contributors featured in The Common’s latest issue, Issue 29, gathered in Amman to read their work. The event was organized by HISHAM BUSTANI, the guest editor of the issue’s Amman portfolio, and celebrated the portfolio’s publication by creating a space where these writers could share their pieces aloud.