In Praise of Umberto Tapia

In Praise of Umberto Tapia

By Dan Gerber

I cup my hands around the last bright speck

and blow gently to keep it alive, an ember

of oak log, pared from a tree

Umberto Tapia has rescued with his artful pruning,

from stifling mistletoe and Spanish moss,

and the unleavened abundance that

drags it down, a life like my own

from which too little has been let go.

Now I see this coal

as a fallen star,

one bright thing in a field of night,

curious about the darkness

and the world kneeling down to it,

using its breath to keep it glowing.

This poem will appear in the author's new collection,

A Primer on Parallel Lives

, to be published by Copper Canyon Press in 2007