Glistenings: Till Death Do Us Part

By Michael D. O'Kelly

Ill find you again,
I must,


Wild thing presence
undying in my mind . . .

www.marilynokelly.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 27, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450082983

Michael D. O'Kelly

MICHAEL D. O’KELLY’S degreed pursuits of theater, Unitarian Universalist ministry( Emeritus ) and psychology are all still “bit-parts” de?ning his “retirement.” The pursuit of writing does the directing now. “Poet” persists as the de?ning title. His 2010 publication – Glistenings: Till Death Do Us Part – is a poetry/song memorial to Marilyn, his wife of forty-nine years: a true love story past the ends of death and dying. Glistenings became a “prelude” to ALTARPIECES. Planned for the coming year are the follow-up book(s) to ALTARPIECES and a children’s story. He has three children, three grandchildren, and lives on a hill in West Virginia.

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Copyright © 2010 by Michael D. O’Kelly.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Covers designed by Kirsten O’Kelly DeVono

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Contents

Preface

Poems

Come Home, My Lovely Spring (1960)

Where You Are Not I Have Not Been (1961)

Torch Song (1963)

Faces (1969)

Voyage Blessing (1976)

Possessed (1977)

Breakaway (1979)

Muse Mate (1981)

This Old House (1980)

Genesis (1982)

Litanies (1984)

Give A Hoot (198

Our Song (1991)

The Wakest (1994)

O, For A Woman Of Fire (1994)

Winterhome (1994)

Those Who (1994)

Waking The Unicorn (1995)

Clamor (1996)

Negotiated Tenacities (1996)

You (1996)

Haunters (1997)

Class Reunion (1997)

The Glistening (1998)

Touch (1998)

So, Beloved Other (1999)

Shorelines (2000)

Quarterly Report (2002)

I Wake To Miracles (2002)

Guest With Me (2003)

My Wake (2004)

ABlessing From On High (2004)

Specious Presents (2005)

Mortal Love As Show-And-Tell (2005)

If I Could Hold You (2005)

I’ll Find You Again (2005)

I Felt You In The Rain Today (2006)

To Tell A Truth (2006)

Dreamers (2006)

I’ve Watched Time Come And Go (2007)

Grand Pas De Deux (2008)

Look At That (2008)

Hymnsongsung (2009)

All Is Well (2009)

The Last Sonnett (2009)

Songs

A Ditty (1971)

That Feeling (1981)

Flight Plan (1983)

Come Dance With Me, My Loved One (1984)

The Seasons Come And Go With You (1999)

I Love The Way You Sing At Christmas (2000)

Suddenly (2000)

Each And Every Year (2002)

Breakfast Song (2003)

Song Of Christmas Cheer (2003)

When The Lightning Cracks (2004)

Neverending Song (2005)

Climbin’ In The Rain (2006)

Finis

SO…

Meditation for Marilyn

…

REQUIEM ELYSIUM

Death

Pieta

Deposition

Glistenings

The Elysian Fields

(2010)

THE LAST PICTURE

Preface

Often, I’d considered a collection such as this… just for Marilyn. Most of these poems were originally in a more extensive work entitled Altarpieces, which should soon follow Glistenings. I’ve never known what I was going to do with the songs—a songbook maybe. It seems most fitting, now, to include them here. She was my muse and only real audience for these. I have a tune-melody for each and sang them to her after each was done; to mixed reviews, I might add, but always well-received. Most of the songs were done when she was away. Missing her, I’d write a song. Over the years, I always tried them out on the dogs first (Buber, Lance, Barney, Camp and, currently, Daisy). Her last painting was of her beloved little Daisy. The three Christmas songs happened because she loved Christmas so and I always wanted to write a Christmas song. Anyway, this is the only place I expect to publish these songs. (Unless, of course, some famous recording star makes an offer I can’t refuse.)

The poems cover various moments in our lives from April 1960 to April 2009. Marilyn, as always, was Primary Muse and Primary Audience. Some are very private. Some are more universal. All are love poems. Sometimes Marilyn was the stand-in for that Other of life’s Otherness. She did an outstanding job at that, without even trying, or even knowing she was in her own me way presencing that dimension. Looking back over the years, I recall how enchanting, fun, and how beautifully good a person Marilyn was—and wonder why I didn’t write more. We spent a lot time just being together; perhaps that’s why. Anyway, we were love-life-companions for almost fifty years, before cancer took her at age seventy-four.

Since this is a book about an us, and for her more than anything else, it includes a few pictures taken over the years. I debated long about this, but felt the book just wasn’t complete without them. Marilyn was photogenic—not a glamorous beauty type: the enchanting, downright good-looking inside and out and true as grass is green type. In league with my mother, Marilyn was the most true-blue, honest, trustworthy as sunlight, and pervasively good person I’ve ever known. Just some of the reasons she was such a precious human being. The luck of the Irish came to pass, when she decided to join me for the journey of life. We so wanted it to last a little longer. Both of us are artists, but neither thought of creating a crystal ball to envision the future. First came leukemia in April of 2004; bladder cancer in January 2008. Time, all of a sudden, was no longer stuck in rush-hour traffic, but loosed in a free fall without brakes or breaks, like an accordion or bagpipe collapsing back into itself when the breath-song is done. The last twelve poems are from that time until her last days. The final poem of this book, Requiem Elysium, I was not able to complete until the year, 2010, began.

Marilyn’s inspiration is pervasive in all my other writings to date, and I expect that inspiration to continue as I get them completed and published and move on to my next assignment. Our relationship was