At Last (for my brother)

Sibling relationships are funny, amazing, and complicated 

Floyd Skloot's poetry and prose have won three Pushcart Prizes, the PEN USA Literary Award, and been included in Best American Essays, Best American Science Writing, Best Spiritual Writing, and Best Food Writing. Poets & Writers named him "One of 50 of the Most Inspiring Authors in the World." His books include the memoirs In the Shadow of Memory and The Wink of the Zenith: The Shaping of a Writer's Life (University of Nebraska Press); the poetry collections The End of Dreams, The Snow's Music, Approaching Winter, and  Far West (all from LSU Press, ), and the novel The Phantom of Thomas Hardy (University of Wisconsin Press). He lives in Oregon with his wife, Beverly Hallberg. Skloot's daughter Rebecca is the author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Crown, 2010). They co-edited The Best American Science Writing 2011 (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2012).

 

“At Last,” first appeared in Far West LSU Press 2019.  Permission to read poem granted by LSU press.