W. S. Merwin's recent passing got Connor and Jack thinking about his work. In this episode they explore the elegantly structured, gut-punchingly powerful "For the Anniversary of My Death" from Merwin's collection "The Lice." Jack brings up the concept of the presence of absence and Connor finds new levels of sonic resonance in the poem's final line.

Read the poem below.

More on Merwin, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/w-s-merwin

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For the Anniversary of My Death

By: W. S. Merwin

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day

When the last fires will wave to me

And the silence will set out

Tireless traveler

Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer

Find myself in life as in a strange garment

Surprised at the earth

And the love of one woman

And the shamelessness of men

As today writing after three days of rain

Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease

And bowing not knowing to what