Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
What the Dead Can Do
by Oliver Baez Bendorf
The dead tell the living to live.
—RANE ARROYO
The dead can fly right up to my
window. The dead can be bright
red. The dead can make pictures
come down from walls, and they
can make it so the backyard smells
just like a Christmas tree. The dead
can make a bird land wherever
they want. They can be bright
red if they want. They can make
luck happen, but they can also
make it not. They can curse
your house. They can make
a head of lettuce go bad. They
can wander the streets at night
while I sleep, transmogrify
their tracks sunk in the snow
into those of another mammal.
They can make any song
come on the radio. They can keep
you safe on the road in a whiteout
storm, but they can also not do that.
They can’t initiate a rainbow but
if one already comes on the sky
they can add one more.
They hope someone makes
love the way they loved to.
They like visitors at their bones.
Some of them I’m sure
are waiting for their ashes
to be eaten by the young.
Copyright © 2024 by Oliver Baez Bendorf. This poem was originally published in West Branch (2021), was reprinted in Best American Poetry 2022, and in Consider the Rooster (Nightboat Books, 2024).
About the Author
Oliver Baez Bendorf is the author of three books of poetry, including Consider the Rooster, a finalist for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award. Born and raised in Iowa, he now lives and writes in exile.
Queer Poem a Day
Queer Poem-a-Day is founded and co-directed by poet and professor Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Library and host of the Deerfield Public Library Podcast. Music for this fifth year of our series is “L’Ange Verrier” from Le Rossignol Éperdu by Reynaldo Hahn, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
