Variation on a Theme by Tess Gallagher
Raymond Carver sobered up & met his true
companion, Tess Gallagher, but hidden
in the pink branches
of his lungs was a slow seed
of malignancy. Tess was the beneficiary
of his temperance unlike Maryann,
his first wife, whose head he once cracked
open with a vodka bottle. His recovery
lasted 11 years—he called
them gravy—& they included words like beloved,
union, deliverance. Ray’s final
days spent contemplating
roses, reading Chekhov
from the back porch of his oak
& pine house in drizzly
Port Angeles. Crushed
by loss, Tess stabbed
at the void with poetry—sixty
poems, all elegiac, filled
a volume called Moon
Crossing Bridge. Pieces of grieving
stretched like a triple load
of laundry on the line. Everything
around her quickened, all parts
of heartbrokenness felt, which
made a map for me. A footpath
to walk during the first
year of losing you.
16 thoughts on "Variation on a Theme by Tess Gallagher"
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I’m glad we have these maps & footpaths that poetry makes for us. Otherwise we’d be in the wilderness, wouldn’t we? Thanks for this new map.
The turn in that final stanza is a wrench and concludes this poem so well. I really enjoy your line sense. “roses, reading Chekhov” is a beautiful image.
wonderful use of gravy and contemplating.
and wonderful nod to Tess.
I loved this poem. The arresting final lines:
of heartbrokenness felt, which
made a map for me. A footpath
to walk during the first
year of losing you.
The writer turns inward in gratitude. It was a surprising change in the poem. I love how the whole import of the poem can amplify with such a shift.
❤️
“stabbed at the void with poetry”
This is my favorite line, a sort of tribute to poets everywhere.
Yeah, I also marvel at how you turned this at the end. Such a lovely moment. And you give such fine flesh to Tess and Ray.
I agree, the final stanza brings it home and makes it personal
Linda – Another wonderful poem! Your style is deliberate and beautiful, and I love the choice of topics. Like these lines –
Pieces of grieving
stretched like a triple load
of laundry on the line. Everything
around her quickened,
So very much to like here, lines ring true. Especially:
sobered up & met his true/companion, Tess Gallagher, but hidden/in the pink branches/of his lungs was a slow seed/of malignancy.
His recovery/lasted 11 years—he called/them gravy—& they included words like beloved,/union, deliverance.
grieving/stretched like a triple load/of laundry on the line./Everything/around her quickened, all parts
/of heartbrokenness felt, which/made a map for me.
Love everything about this poem. Such an interesting mix of tenderness and violence–not just the violence of the head cracked with the vodka bottle, but the violence of loss and grief, how you say Tess ” stabbed / at the void with poetry.”
And the ending lines, the turn, really got me.
This is so well done, Linda. The story grabbed hold of me and then the ending left me breathless. Thanks.
I like your pieces of grieving line
Linda, you have a real gift for storytelling–here, taking a bit of biography and re-inventing it beautifully.
This makes me want to revisit some of her work!
Like the way the flippant tone gives way in the turn at the end. Interesting that your title references Gallagher but not Carver. He did his bit too, as you show. (By the way, do you know his poem, “Afterglow”? You could call that a preface to grief.)
A little voice in my head wondered about citing Carver in the title. I have to think about it. Tess is the one who wrote a book with 60 poems of love and loss and she’s one of my guiding poetic lights. In other words, I was focused on her. I’ll read Afterglow for sure.