Laura Grace Weldon

Rhiannon Giddens opens her set 
at Oberlin’s Finney Chapel
with O Death and I fall 
all the way into her music, let
my head and shoulders sway 
in the nearly imperceptible way 
I was raised to respond 
though my feet can’t help but tap.    

Drum, then cello enter 
at exact intersections
summoning my father, here, 
right next to my aisle seat, 
his head keeping time,  
arms up as if playing along, 
aware from the place he’s gone
just how perfect this is, 
how perfect everything is. 

I am elated his spirit has joined me, 
want to dance with him in the aisle, 
but sit, savor, feel the notes more fully 
for his presence, clap all the more loudly 
for both of us. His frugal heart is surely 
pleased to attend without paying for a ticket. 

Laura Grace Weldon lives in a township too tiny for traffic lights where she works as a book editor, teaches writing workshops, serves as Braided Way editor, and chronically maxes out her library card. Laura was Ohio’s 2019 Poet of the Year and is the author of four books.