Love Enough (15 page)

Sydney put her hand on June’s back then and they both said nothing and made no sound and June felt Sydney’s hand like a benediction. Yes, June collects sadness. What would happen if no one remembered sadness? We’d walk around mutilated and mutilating and not know how we got there or have any remorse.

“Someone has to,” Sydney says, moving her hand up and down June’s back. And it was as if Sydney had said the best
thing ever to June. June felt Sydney’s soothing hand cover her. There is nothing universal or timeless about this love business, Sydney now suspects for the first time. It is hard if you really want to do it right.

Thank you to Louise Dennys most dearly for her rigourous editorial attention; to my patient and critical first readers, Filomena Carvalho, Linda Spalding, Allyson Holder and Madeleine Thien; to my translators and interlocutors, Abdi Osman, Sara Fruner, E.W. and M.O.; and to my agent Sarah Chalfant of the Wylie Agency for her reading and support. A special thanks to Deirdre Molina and Terri Nimmo.

“Love Poem 17” from
The Collected Works
of Xavier Simone is reprinted with permission of the author © Xavier Simone (1968).

DIONNE BRAND’s most recent book of poetry is
Ossuaries
, winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize; her nine others include winners of the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Trillium Book Award and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Her novel
In Another Place, Not Here
was selected as a
New York Times Book Review
Notable Book of the Year and a Best Book by
The Globe and Mail; At the Full and Change of the Moon
was also selected as a Best Book by the
LA Times
. Her novel
What We All Long For
was published to great acclaim in Canada, Italy and Germany and won the Toronto Book Award. In 2006, Brand was awarded the Harbourfront Festival Prize for her contribution to the world of books and writing and was Toronto’s Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2012. Brand is a professor in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph. She lives in Toronto.