Nan Cohen

FROM THE LOST NOTEBOOK 20

What kind
of apple
did Eve eat? / what time of year
do birds start to sing:          Earlier
dawns
slightly longer days   possibly 
(more complex SONGS)
the need to practice
even in winter

73 questions a day:
“3-to-5-year-olds quickly learn
who gives good answers”

[ancient Egypt] After death
they opened the mouth
for the soul to breathe
(could also eat and talk)

Take your questions with you to the afterlife

NAN COHEN is the author, most recently, of Unfinished City (Gunpowder Press, 2017) and a chapbook, Thousand-Year-Old Words. The recipient of a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University and a Literature Fellowship from the NEA, she codirects the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference poetry programs and lives in Los Angeles.