EPILOGUE   

Suppose the leaf that falls 

from its tree and whirls and twirls 

in the wind a short while only 

after waving for months

on its branch as though

glad for the breezes and rain

is no less than the rose cut

and dropped into crystal where

it busies itself with being

beautiful as it exhausts the last 

of its peppery sweet scent,

also for a short while only.

Tant pis! Moi même, gurneyed, 

shuttled through shadowless 

corridors to a cold room

bright as a beach, met,

readied, and transferred to the table,

to be wordless as the leaf, 

useless as the rose.

Miriam N. Kotzin is Professor of English at Drexel University where she teaches creative writing and literature. She is author of a novel, The Real Deal (Brick House Press, 2012), a collection of flash fiction, Just Desserts (Star Cloud Press, 2010) and four collections of poetry, most recently The Body's Bride (David Robert Books, 2013). A fifth volume, Debris Field, is scheduled for publication by David Robert Books in January, 2017. Her poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Shenandoah, Boulevard, The Tower Journal, and Valparaiso Poetry Review, among others. She is founding editor of Per Contra and has been a contributing editor of Boulevard since its inception.