Fall 2006

Were All There

for Geoffrey Hill

Author

Kevin Carrizo di Camillo

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Author Information

Kevin Carrizo di Camillo is editor at Paulist Press and former poetry editor of “Traffic East.” The author of “Occasionally Yours (& Others)” (1999), a book of poetry, he has published poems in numerous publications, including the “National Poetry Review,” “James Joyce Quarterly,” “The Notre Dame Review,” and “America,” for which he was awarded the Foley Poetry Prize. He is also the coeditor of “John Paul II in the Holy Land 2000” (with Rev. Lawrence Boadt, C.S.P., 2005).

Were All There

for Geoffrey Hill

The seller of used-cars, his cigar
Noisome, quasi-Cuban; the nuncio
In his scrim of pallium: didn’t cough.
The neverseen neighbour (gay?)
Who stopped to say he was “sorry”.
Monsignor-the-trencherman
& his Romanic subdeacons with
Collection nets on poles, horizontal
Gondoliers with monstrous patens.
The Smiths, wizards, women; Children
Cursed by the undertaker & his
Stained presence; Keeners; Common
& Collect; The old friend
With his index cards (too large)
Ready to play apologist.
The rest of it.

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