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  • The Paris Review

    Poetry Rx: Lost Work, Paralysis, and Gun Laws

    by Claire Schwartz Mar 08, 2018 4 minutes

    In our column Poetry Rx, readers write in with a specific emotion and our resident poets—Sarah Kay, Kaveh Akbar, and Claire Schwartz—take turns prescribing the perfect poems to match. This week, Claire Schwartz is on the line.

    © Ellis Rosen

    Dear Poets,

    My best friend lost something he has been working on his whole life. Could you send me a poem that he could use right now? 

    Signed,
    Caring Friend

    Dear Caring Friend,

    When you work on a project for a long time, that project can become your companion, confidante, sanctuary, challenge. I’m sorry about your friend’s loss. Still, how gorgeous your friend’s lifetime of making: that practice of sustained attention extends far beyond any finished

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