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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hey Annie,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I really enjoyed this poem—thanks for sharing.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I’ve read it a few times now, and for me personally, I don’t think the last stanza adds anything. But obviously it did to the poet. For me, ending with “and will go on happening forever.“ is a better ending.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>What do you all get from the last bit?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Happy new year,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Chris<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.chriskuell.com">www.chriskuell.com</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> Stylist <stylist-bounces@nfbnet.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Ann Chiappetta via Stylist<br><b>Sent:</b> Friday, December 30, 2022 12:27 PM<br><b>To:</b> 'Writers' Division Mailing List' <stylist@nfbnet.org><br><b>Cc:</b> Ann Chiappetta <anniecms64@gmail.com><br><b>Subject:</b> [Stylist] a poem<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The Need Is So Great<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Jim Moore - 1943-<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sometimes I just sit like this at the window and watch<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>the darkness come. If I’m smart, I’ll put on Bach.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I’m thinking now of how far it always seems there is to go.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Maybe it is too easy that I speak so often<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>of late last light on a December day,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>of that stubborn grass that somehow still remains green<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>behind the broken chain link fence on the corner.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But the need is so great for the way light looks<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>as it takes its leave of us. We say<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>what we can to each other of these things,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>we who are such thieves, stealing first<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>one breath and then the next. Bach, keep going<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>just this slowly, show me the way to believe<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>that what matters in this world has already happened<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>and will go on happening forever.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The way light falls on the last<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>of the stricken leaves of the copper beech<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>at the end of the block is something to behold.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Copyright © 2022 by Jim Moore. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 30, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Jim Moore<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Jim Moore was born on June 22, 1943, in Decatur, Illinois. He began writing in the mid-1960s and received his bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota and his master’s degree from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His poetry collections include Prognosis (Graywolf Press, 2021), Underground: New and Selected Poems (Graywolf Press, 2014), Invisible Strings (Graywolf Press, 2011), and Lightning at Dinner (Graywolf Press, 2005).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>Ann M. Chiappetta, M.S.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>Making Meaningful ConnectionsThrough Media <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>914.393.6605 USA<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:Anniecms64@gmail.com">Anniecms64@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>All things Annie: <a href="http://www.annchiappetta.com">www.annchiappetta.com</a> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>