At times past sixty 

glimpses of the human’s exit 

from body-bound blessedness 

strike a sudden chord 

start me wondering 

and I go somewhere inexplicable 

just an instant. 

I expect to pile these keepsakes one upon another 

more and more 

until acceptance becomes a picture formed 

like a mason builds a house 

decorated and cluttered 

that throws wide its doors 

invites me in, commands a fine  

free flight. 

Looking at ones own mortality is not an easy thing to do. This poem addresses this issue in so few lines. I love the preciseness of the language. It is straight to the point. It also speaks about one of my favorite topics, death Alice’s poem has a beautiful sadness to it. The poem makes me think, since I’m older, I should get my things in order. She has a way with words that many writers could learn from. 

In the first stanza, I would cut the line, “from body-bound blessedness.” I think it is a much stronger stanza with this line cut out. Therefore it would read: “glimpses of the human’s exit/strike a sudden chord.” This makes the flow in the first stanza so much better.

In the second stanza, I would cut the second line “more & more.” You already said the same thing in the first line of the poem, “I expect to pile these keepsakes one upon another.”

Having read other poetry by Alice, I can’t wait to read this book! This is an exciting project and I am so excited to be a part of it.

Gloria Mindock is the editor of Červená Barva Press and the Istanbul Literary Review. She is the author of 3 books, Nothing Divine Here (U Soku Stampa, Montenegro, 2010), La Portile Raiului (Ars Longa Press, Romania, 2010, translated into the Romanian by Flavia Cosma), and Blood Soaked Dresses (Ibbetson St. Press, 2007). Her work has been published in numerous literary journals in the United States and abroad and translated into Spanish, Romanian, and French. For more information, visit: www.cervenabarvapress.com.