Ann V. DeVilbiss
Poetry
Ann V. DeVilbiss has had work in Crab Orchard Review, The Maine Review, Pangyrus, and elsewhere, with work forthcoming in BOAAT and The Laurel Review. She is the recipient of the Betty Gabehart Prize in poetry and an Emerging Artist Award from the Kentucky Arts Council. She lives and works in Louisville, Kentucky.
Spell for the Healing Chorus
and when I strip its leaves, hold
it in my hands, I say
persistence
and when I swallow down
the furred center of the artichoke
persistence
and when I core the apple
with two swift strokes, the knife hums
persistence
and when I visit you, under all
the corded tubes, the gentle hands
of nurses, to the tough organ
tucked beside your ruined lung, I say
persistence
a bell calling through the snowstorm
to the hazed shore where you’ve settled
like a wounded boat
persistence
and we all cry out trying
persistence
trying to be the sound from the mainland,
persistence
calling you home.
“ I wrote this poem while a friend was in a medically-induced coma for more than a month following a traumatic accident. Through the power of modern medicine and also luck, his body healed and he is back to life as usual. Our family of friends felt helpless in the face of so much uncertainty, and it was a rough time even while love held us together. I believe language can reframe and transform the world in order to change it, and writing this poem was my way of hoping even when things seemed hopeless. It's a poem in honor of the chorus of friends who were pulling for him, and in honor of his totally tough heart. ”