Have We Met Before? Comments

You have always used the long line in your poems because you need that length for the narrative details in your poems. But the lines in this poem are especially long and narrate so much detail HAVE WE MET BEFORE? is as much a short story as a poem. The story is one of loss which you express without anger or sentimentality. There is rather a wistful quality like Kurt Vonnegut's repeated phrase SO IT GOES. But the event that generated thus poem was a stab of memory of past happiness in finding the Christmas gift unexpectedly. I won't dwell on this because it must be painful and your poem is a brave attempt to overcome loss. I'll just say I felt the truth of your words and this poem may give someone else dealing with loss just the right attitude. So it goes.