Elul Day 6 - ו באלול

Dear Elul Writers,

In a year where no one will stop talking about the similarities between this moment and 1968, is it any wonder that one of the poems that I found most affecting centers on that fateful year. Rita Dove’s Testimony: 1968 speaks to a world utterly transformed by violence and fissure; a subject matter that feels all too relevant.

Who comforts you now that the wheel has broken?
No more princes for the poor. Loss whittling you thin.
Grief is the constant now, hope the last word spoken. 

In a dance of two elegies, which circles the drain? A token
year with its daisies and carbines is where we begin.
Who comforts you now? That the wheel has broken 

is Mechanics 101; to keep dreaming when the joke’s on
you? Well, crazier legends have been written.
Grief is the constant now; hope, the last word spoken 

on a motel balcony, shouted in a hotel kitchen. No kin
can make this journey for you. The route’s locked in.
Who comforts you now that the wheel has broken 

the bodies of its makers? Beyond the smoke and
ashes, what you hear rising is nothing but the wind.
Who comforts you? Now that the wheel has broken, 

grief is the constant. Hope: the last word spoken.

DAY 6 PROMPT

My mom is a retired English teacher (in fact, she was my AP English teacher), so I am a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t remember the villanelle form. This French verse form that Dove employs so powerfully here is characterized by the repetition of lines from the first stanza in the following stanzas. “Who comforts you now that the wheel has broken” and “Grief is the constant now; hope, the last word spoken” return again and again. In truth, they’ve kept returning to me since I read this poem. For so many, it feels like this year was marked by a significant breaking. Today, I encourage you to consider how you feel comfort in the face of such brokenness. We understand that grief is constant, how can we make hope, the last word spoken? 

Take care,

Jordan