Imagining Absence

by

Antoni Ooto

With darkness looking back,
what more is there to give?

    How could you ever be lost?

Your name remains in poetry,
in forests of palms, and that dedicated
belief in constancy.

Even on your solitary path
into the gloaming I wonder…

Does morning bring joy?
Does hope still hold,
when…
the only hope is to be the light.

 

for poet and dedicated conservator
—W.S. Merwin (1927 – 2019)

Antoni Ooto lives and works with his wife, poet/storyteller, Judy DeCroce, in rural upstate New York. Ooto is a well-known abstract expressionist artist whose art is collected throughout the US. Currently, poetry is an additional expression of creativity. His poetry is widely published internationally in print, online journals, and anthologies. Antoni regularly contributes to The BeZINE, Amethyst Review, Front Porch Review, The Poet Magazine, OpenDoor Magazine, and Vita Brevis Press. His poem, “A Year Without Weight,” was included in the 2021 anthology Brought to Sight and Swept Away, which went to number one in New Poetry Anthologies on Amazon.