The Blessing. Gregory Orr

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      THE BLESSING

      ALSO BY GREGORY ORR

      Poetry

       The Last Love Poem I Will Ever Write

       River Inside the River

       How Beautiful the Beloved

       Concerning the Book That Is the Body of the Beloved

       The Caged Owl: New and Selected Poems

       Orpheus and Eurydice

       City of Salt

       New and Selected Poems

       We Must Make a Kingdom of It

       The Red House

       Gathering the Bones Together

       Burning the Empty Nests

      Criticism

       A Primer for Poets and Readers of Poetry

       Poetry as Survival

      Poets Teaching Poets: Self and the World, edited with Ellen Bryant Voigt

       Richer Entanglements: Essays and Notes on Poetry and Poems

       Stanley Kunitz: An Introduction to the Poetry

      THE BLESSING

      A Memoir

      Gregory Orr

      MILKWEED EDITIONS

      © 2002, 2004, Text by Gregory Orr

      Original edition published by Council Oak Books in Tulsa, OK.

      All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415.

      [phone]

       milkweed.org

      Published 2019 by Milkweed Editions

      Printed in the United States of America

      Cover design by Mary Austin Speaker

      Cover art by iStock (watercolor) and Featurepics (vector)

      19 20 21 22 23 5 4 3 2 1

       First Edition

      Milkweed Editions, an independent nonprofit publisher, gratefully acknowledges sustaining support from the Ballard Spahr Foundation; the Jerome Foundation; the McKnight Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Target Foundation; and other generous contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. Also, this activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. For a full listing of Milkweed Editions supporters, please visit milkweed.org.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Orr, Gregory, author.

      Title: The blessing : a memoir / Gregory Orr.

      Description: First Edition. | Minneapolis, MN : Milkweed Editions, 2019.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2019001876 (print) | LCCN 2019013395 (ebook) | ISBN 9781571317223 (ebook) | ISBN 9781571313867 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      Subjects: LCSH: Orr, Gregory—Childhood and youth. | Orr, Gregory—Family. | Poets, American—20th century—Biography.

      Classification: LCC PS3565.R7 (ebook) | LCC PS3565.R7 Z46 2019 (print) | DDC 811/.54 [B]—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019001876

      Milkweed Editions is committed to ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book production practices with this principle, and to reduce the impact of our operations in the environment. We are a member of the Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the world’s endangered forests and conserve natural resources. The Blessing was printed on acid-free 30% postconsumer-waste paper by Sheridan Books, Inc.

       For Trisha, who believed in this book

      CONTENTS

       Part One

       Blessing

       Guns

       The Accident

       Meanings

       Child Mind

       Numb

       The Field

       Cain Continuing

       Part Two

       Alcove

       Rensselaerville

       Germantown

       The Ditch

       House Calls

       Bottles

       Books

       New Heights

       The Chiron

       Part Three

       After

       Returning

       A Dream

       The Old House

       Visitors

       Plans