Marvin Bell

Marvin Bell (1937-2020) was born in New York City, raised on the south shore of eastern Long Island. His debut collection of poems, Things We Dreamt We Died For, was published in 1966. The book Segues: A Correspondence in Poetry written with William Stafford. Later in his career, Bell created the poetic form known as the ‘Dead Man poem,’ about which the critic Judith Kitchen has written: “Bell has redefined poetry as it is being practiced today.” Bell is the author of over 20 volumes of poetry, including Incarnate: The Collected Dead Man Poems (Copper Canyon Press,2019).

Around Us

We need some pines to assuage the darkness

when it blankets the mind,

we need a silvery stream that banks as smoothly

as a plane’s wing, and a worn bed of

needles to pad the rumble that fills the mind,

and a blur or two of a wild thing

that sees and is not seen. We need these things

between appointments, after work,

and, if we keep them, then someone someday,

lying down after a walk

and supper, with the fire hole wet down,

the whole night sky set at a particular

time, without numbers or hours, will cause

a little sound of thanks—a zipper or a snap—

to close round the moment and the thought

of whatever good we did.

— Marvin Bell