Howe, who helped many find their voice in poetry during the AIDS epidemic, will be inaugurated as New York's official State Poet tomorrow Sept. 20th at 8PM at Page Hall.
Here is a poem about her brother's death, one of many, from her bestselling collection, What the Living Do (1997):
I had no idea that the gate I
would step through
to finally enter this world
would be the space my
brother's body made. He was
a little taller than me: a
young man
but grown, himself by then,
done at twenty-eight, having
folded every sheet,
rinsed every glass he would
ever rinse under the cold
and running water.
This is what you have been
waiting for, he used to say to me.
And I'd say, What?
And he'd say, This—holding up
my cheese and mustard sandwich.
And I'd say, What?
And he'd say, This, sort of
looking around.
