EMAIL TO AMIRI

amiri,
i just saw on facebook you're in an icu in the hospital.
what's happened? i'm expecting you will recover
and read this email.  whatever the hell it is,
beat it!
your longtime friend,
rich

i retrieve this email to amiri, written dec 24,
christmas eve. the last email i sent to him.
years of emails back and forth.
usually not long.
i made it a point over the years to look
past the fame to the common man beneath.
i'm sure it was a central part of our friendship,
or rather why he would let down, to the extent
he did, with me.

there are his post cards around the apartment.
one, when he was poet laureate and under fire
from the governor. he said as far as he was
concerned, he was meeting his obligation
as the laureate.  and, of course, he was.

but no governor was going to accept the truth
being said and written with such courage.
after all, this not the way of governors, senators,
congressmen, or presidents.

amiri never did read my email.


rich quatrone 1/31/14