John Barr

Hospice, Morristown NJ

For my brother

Tubing reaches down to feed
each still body on its bed.
Monitors report, report
the cowed persistence of a heart.
Anger...loving...grieving––gone
to only this: holding on. 

Wheeled out to the garden grounds,
they sit among the blooms and fronds
transfixed.  What they alone can see:
a mile away, a mile high
a glacier advances, filling its jaws
with rubble of all that ever was.

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Over the past 30 years, John Barr's poems have been published in five books, four fine press editions and many magazines, including The New York Times, Poetry and others. He was also the Inaugural President of the Poetry Foundation. His newest book, The Boxer of Quirinal, will be published by Red Hen Press in June 2023. You can view more of his work at johnbarrpoetry.com and on Instagram (@johnbarrpoetry).