Toni Morrison

[Prefatory Note: At this age, having exhausted prose options, I indulge myself during holidays, by sharing poems that seek also your indulgence. I searched 2019 forsome glimmers of good news, and felt stymied. Of course, here, there, everywhere there were glorious private exceptions, yet hovering over the public marketplaces ofthe world I cringe beneath menacing storm clouds and below chaos and misery, and catastrophes waiting to happen.

America lost our greatest living poet today. Last night Toni Morrison died, age 88. In 1993 she became the first black woman to receive the Nobel literature prize. She had already won a Pulitzer for her novel, Beloved, 5 years earlier. In 2012 President Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her work focused on African American life and culture.