About Elisabeth Murawski

Author of MOON AND MERCURY (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 1990) and a chapbook, TROUBLED BY AN ANGEL (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 1997), Elisabeth Murawski is a native of Chicago but has lived in the DC area since 1960. She works as a training specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau and has served as an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University Washington Center and the University of Virginia Falls Church Center. She has received four grants from The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, NM and a partial fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center. Publications include: THE YALE REVIEW, THE DUBLINER, THE VIRGINIA QUARTERLY REVIEW, GRAND STREET, DOUBLETAKE, FIELD, THE LITERARY REVIEW, CRAZYHORSE, THE AMERICAN VOICE, AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW, POETRY NORTHWEST, THE OHIO REVIEW, SHENANDOAH, et al.

Also In VQR

Dies Illa

Elisabeth Murawski

It's modern, graveside,
to shield the bereaved,
postpone the final

creak of straps till after
the limos leave. Not so
cremation's nascent

protocol: mourners at the wall
must bear the squeak
of lazy iron fly

crawling up marble, a digger
in a jumpsuit astride
the lift's tiny platform,

in his hands the precious
bronze cigar box
carried like a lunch.

The director calls "it"
John, as if indeed my brother
lived there, poured

in lumps like sugar or salt,
small as Alice post-drink.
He is placed, stuck to rest

in peace, the niche so high
it's hard to read names,
the refrain "What is John?"

like an answer in reverse
playing Jeopardy,
haunting and tormenting.

Newsletter

Dies Illa

Elisabeth Murawski