{For EH, from the good ship Zaandam, off the Antarctic Coast, January 10, 2018}

I know you were never here.
But I am here now among
the Icebergs and Dry Valleys
and I see your life and work
centered on radiant absence
reflected in ice-mirrors
for simple souls, a long
slow dance with God–strike up
the band!  Let us begin
and sing with Shackleton,
with penguins, seals, Cold Porter–
when they begin the Beguine:
Non je ne Porete rien

This poem was first published in the book and CD Songs & Poems for Hemingway & Paris, a joint publication that will have its featured world premiere at the International Hemingway Conference in Paris (July 2018). The book and the CD contains numerous songs and poems by current and former New Paltz MA students; unfortunately, these works were not available for reprint as this volume went to press.