Not Beckett
Yes I
“Yes I” was written in a period when I regularly attended poetry slams at the Nuyorican Poet’s Café in New York City. Listening to the young rappers who performed as we waited in line to get in, I was struck by the recurrent theme of being true to oneself and narrating one’s authentic experience, however painful it is. Somehow their themes and their rhythms inspired me to write this piece. It also adopts the technique of sampling, drawing on text from my favorite playwright.
Yes I
In honor of the Nuyorican sidewalk poets
And in memory of Samuel Beckett
I hold myself in arms so still
The silence drills my bones and chills
Me till I know I never will
Know heat—no heat
Cold sweat like pearls upon my skin
With blood like liquid nitrogen
I float beyond all virtue, sin
Or pain—no pain
No judge no jury in this place
I only see the mirror’s face
No trace of shame a barren grace
Rains down—rains down
I bear witness to my breath
The flickering flame of life and death
For I will never leave myself
Alone—alone
Sleep now sleep now I say and mean
That even in the darkest dream
A voice survives to wake and scream
I am—I am
I hold myself I’m in my arms
No hope of joy no fear of harm
With nothing left to do or tell
I’m in my arms I hold myself
Without tenderness, but faithfully
Without tenderness, but faithfully
Without tenderness
In faith
~ Kimberly Gladman ~
Table of Contents
Publisher’s Note: Kimberly Gladman
“Entanglement” (flash fiction): Kimberly Gladman
Not Richard Rolle
“The Fire of Love” (excerpt): Kimberly Gladman
“Confession of an Anchoress” (short story): Greta Ode
Not Beckett
“Yes I” (poetry): Kimberly Gladman
“Cold Truths”: Greta Ode (short story)
Not Kafka
“An Anger Artist” (flash fiction): Kimberly Gladman
Not McMurtry, and Not McCarthy
From Gunslinger (novel excerpt): Greta Ode
Not Hawthorne
“The Path Over Many Histories” (short story): Kimberly Gladman
From Missing Pearl (novel excerpt): Greta Ode
Not Safe for Work
From Testament, a revisioning of Wuthering Heights (novel excerpt): Kimberly Gladman