BLUES

He said, “This life, all
ways, I pretend.”

And so to learn of it
does not diminish

him, nor fortify me.
I cannot believe or say

it might have been
otherwise. No.

The best we do
is listen.

Joseph Coulson is a novelist, poet, playwright, and teacher. His first novel, The Vanishing Moon (2004), published as a Harvest Book from Harcourt and in German and French translations, was selected for the Barnes & Noble Great New Writers series and won the Book of the Year Award, Gold Medal in Literary Fiction, from ForeWord Magazine. His second novel, Of Song and Water (2007), was a finalist for the Great Lakes Book Award and enjoyed both critical and commercial success in France, fueled by an award-winning translation by Judith Roze and reviews in leading publications, including Le Monde.

Books