Adele Kenny
If It Hadn't Been
We wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for the rain,
the wind-loosened trees (this quiet shelter); and I
wouldn't tell you how nothing wonderful ever matches
its memory, how not going home is a sadness we
all carry. I wouldn't tell you what I know about losing,
how what we keep is never all that we need.
Bio
Adele Kenny is the author of twenty-three books (poetry & nonfiction) with poems published in journals worldwide, as well as in books and anthologies from Crown, Tuttle, Shambhala, and McGraw-Hill. A former creative writing professor, she is founding director of the Carriage House Poetry Series and poetry editor of Tiferet Journal. Among other awards, she has received poetry fellowships from the NJ State Arts Council, the 2012 International Book Award for Poetry, a Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Award, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Kean University. www.adelekenny.com