To Die Is Different

Michelle Kohler

The clocks tick pink, then turn to horses. Please,

put my heart in the tunnel of your telescope while there’s time.


Look, its muscular chambers hold the four degrees of glory.

Have always held the four degrees of glory. Glory of


sing out, just as three-wattled bellbird. Glory of sometimes

I leave my knots exposed. Glory of skylight.


Glory of coiffed ghost. When you are dead, these

shall be the rooms of your salvation. You may enter


one kingdom or all the kingdoms. No one will ask

you to shake hands. The usher will say, Now, here,


enter the heart of the matter at last. The cuffs

of your shoulders will turn soft, astonished as petals.


The kingdoms have no exiles.

They have, instead, coral noises that pique your curiosity.


You’ll want to know what syrinx strums such red songs.

Your joints will spin silk. You’ll know why the ghosts


are so lovely. You’ll know why my heart trills so loud.

Exaltation is not what you supposed. Daughters dwell


not in outer darkness. They are too busy with the atria

of glory, carving the valve that breathes light.


what surprised you about the composition of this poem?

The final pieces of this poem fell unexpectedly into place once I sketched a picture of a heart’s anatomy in my notebook. Something about leaning into the literal helped me feel the poem’s rhythms and find the phrasing that was eluding me.

Michelle Kohler is a writer and literary critic living in New Orleans. She is an associate professor of English at Tulane University.
Originally published:
September 17, 2025

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