Behold the brokenHearts, backs and partsOf natureEvolved to followA finite pathBehold the gray rainIn a house of mirrors.Oak leaves shiningOn glass, two kissesIn one spot exactly.Behold the scabs and cutsOf city streets.Crusts, stones, smoke.As many peopleAs nails from a factory.Behold the spaceBetween each starOr a child under nineLaying her handOn another’s face.Behold the foundationAnd the secret of it.Close your eyesAnd breathe.When seized, don’t speak.
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“The Witness” from Come and See. Copyright © 2011 by Fanny Howe. Reprinted with the permission of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, www.graywolfpress.org
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Lynn Christoffers
Lynn Christoffers
Fanny Howe is the author of more than thirty works of poetry and prose, including Love and I, The Needle’s Eye, Come and See, and The Winter Sun. Her poetry collection, Second Childhood, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and her fiction has been honored as a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize.
These poems move from one country to another and from one archetypal position—parent, grandparent, child—to another in the wake of the twentieth century. Certain movies provide an almost religious resolution to questions and experiences. “I don’t blame the children for anything,” Howe writes in one poem. “Their century is like a director who prefers his script to his actors.” With startling revelation and lyrical power, Come and See urges us to observe the world anew.
“These are poems of multiple selves and multiple eras, of oppression and the search for justice, of time’s fleeting and relentless passage and the inevitability of both. Sometimes stylized poetically and sometimes arranged in more proselike paragraphs, Howe’s lines reflect her meditative stance, asking questions, probing for answers, searching for truths. . . . Recommended for all readers of contemporary poetry.”
—Library Journal
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