Jean Valentine (1934–2020) published numerous poetry collections, including Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems 1965–2003, awarded the 2004 National Book Award for Poetry; Break the Glass; and Shirt in Heaven. The recipient as well of the Wallace Stevens Award and the Shelley Memorial Award, she taught at Sarah Lawrence College, New York University, and Columbia.

Photograph by Max Greenstreet.

You Ask

by Jean Valentine

You ask,

Could we have coffee? —No, my truth,
I’m still on this side.

People on couch

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