John Tessitore
An Evening with M. Poe
Your snifter of brandy alight in meager fire,
the lees aswirl in the amber like a storm—
let it breathe and warm you this Christmas Eve,
as the clock ticks its foreboding, as the church bells
ring a ghostly tolling through the falling snow.
It is all that you have for comfort, M. Poe,
this elixir draining like sands in the hourglass.
It is the last consolation of a friendless man.
I see your condition. Help me to understand.
Did you think our true selves came cheaply, without
drudgery? Did you think I was made of money?
Remember well, among the fallen nothing is free.
Perhaps I owe you survival, in recognition
of our common humanity. If I find you
dying in the gutter, I will try to revive you.
But if you show a single sign that you will linger
until tomorrow, if that black heart keeps beating,
I will leave you to loll in the offal like swine—
or to your chair, your bottle, a few sticks of wood
(it’s all the same). And that, my friend, is charity:
you may remain. A corpse can’t pay its creditors
but a broken spirit can reach for his wallet.
Surely a man of your erudition has learned
this lesson before. If there are others more
willing to do the world’s bidding (there always are),
you will be ignored. Only posterity loves
a pauper. Only an artist believes in suffering.
You leave me no choice now but to abandon you
to the cold. So pour your final swallow. Empty
the decanter. Prepare for a very long winter.
May this roof keep you dry until Judgment Day.
And if you know of a god who will have you, pray.
John Tessitore has been a journalist, editor, and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press. His poems have appeared in a variety of books and journals. He has published several volumes of poetry, a novella, and hosts a poetry podcast, Be True, available on all major podcast platforms.
Substack: @johntessitore
Instagram: @jtessitorewriter1
Blue Sky: @jtessitore.bsky.social
Banner Art:
The Eye, Like a Strange Balloon Moves Towards Infinity, plate one from To Edgar Poe, Odilon Redon, 1882, Art Institute of Chicago
