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NYtimes obit Ai<\/a>, a Steadfast Poetic Channel of Hard Lives, Dies at 62 <\/p>\n Ai means “Love’ in Japanese. National Book Award winning poet Ai died unexpectedly of natural causes in Oklahoma on Saturday. She was 62.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ai profile here <\/a> (Poet’s org)<\/p>\n A conversation with Ai<\/a><\/p>\n Ai is a warm, animated, thoughtful, and deeply engaging conversationalist. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thanking Ai<\/a><\/p>\n She was Ai, she was a woman who did whatever the hell she wanted, and I admired that immensely. If anyone had any doubts about that then they hadn\u2019t read her work–she didn\u2019t use periods or commas to punctuate her poems, she used goosebumps. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n PASSAGE for Allen Ginsberg<\/p>\n Sunflowers beside the railroad tracks,
\nFlorence Anthony (October 21, 1947 \u2013 March 19, 2010) was an American poet who legally changed her name to Ai.
\nObit from Jacket copy<\/a><\/p>\n
\nsunflowers giving back the beauty God gave you
\nto one lonely traveler
\nwho spies you from a train window
\nas she passes on her way to another train station.
\nShe wonders if she were like you
\nrooted to your bit of earth
\nwould she be happy,
\nwould she be satisfied
\nto have the world glide past and not regret it?
\nFor a moment, she thinks so,
\nthen decides that, no, she never could
\nand turns back to her book of poetry,
\nremembering how hard it was to get here
\nand that flowers have their places as people do
\nand she cannot simply exchange hers for another,
\neven though she wants it.
\nThat’s how it is.
\nHer mother told her.
\nNow she believes her,
\nalthough she wishes she didn’t.
\nAt fifty-three, she feels the need
\nto rebel against the inevitable winding down.
\nShe already feels it in her bones,
\nfeels artery deterioration, and imagines
\ncancerous indications on medical charts
\nshe hopes will never be part of her life,
\nas she turns back to the window
\nto catch the last glimpse of the sunflowers
\nthat sent her thoughts on a journey
\nfrom which she knows she will never return,
\nonly go on and on
\nand then just go.
\nAi Ogawa<\/p>\n