John W. Evans

John W. Evans Poems

John W. Evans Biography

John W. Evans is the author of a memoir, Young Widower (forthcoming from University of Nebraska Press, 2014), which won the 2013 River Teeth Book Prize, and a collection of poetry, The Consolations (forthcoming from Trio House Press, 2014). His poems and essays appear in Slate, The Missouri Review, Boston Review, The Gettysburg Review, ZYZZYVA, and The Rumpus. He teaches creative writing at Stanford University, where he was a Stegner Fellow.)

The Best Poem Of John W. Evans

Sleep

Terrific silences organized the room
where I slept after your death.
I was terrified to leave it.
I imagined clearly the hallway
on the other side of the door,
narrow, well-lit, and neatly tiled.
I took a pill, arranged the sheets,
and pulled the room up over my shoulders.
Out of breath I woke between doses
to write down those dreams I remembered.
For quite a while, I talked to someone,
winnowing fear and catharsis
from the same few memories.
One hour passed, then another
therapist, a different city, sometimes
I tried not to repeat myself
or insist that my grief was ending.

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