Alexander Etheridge

Gratitude

After we’ve set the book down,
it’s all right if we only
remember the paper cuts.

It’s all right if Eliot stands under
a bare bulb for days
writing two lines.

We should thank our suffering—
Chopin coughed up blood
composing his last mazurka.

We come from an ancient family
of weepers—A certain grief
gave birth to us all.

A flash of agony stokes the coals
in the heart’s furnace. We burn
like the scrolls of Alexandria.

It’s OK to break down before
the poem is over. Everything we’ve lost
carries us on the wind.

Alexander Etheridge has been developing his poems and translations since 1998.
His poems have been featured in The Potomac Review, Museum of Americana, Ink
Sac, Welter Journal, The Cafe Review, The Madrigal, Abridged Magazine, Susurrus
Magazine, The Journal, Roi Faineant Press, and many others. He was the winner of
the Struck Match Poetry Prize in 1999, and a finalist for the Kingdoms in the Wild
Poetry Prize in 2022. He is the author of, God Said Fire, and, Snowfire and Home.