When we gathered the weekend after Nina’s death in 2019 to mourn our loss together, there was a moment late in the afternoon, August 17, when Fred, Kathie and I took a brief respite for a stroll around Rittenhouse Square just to get some air.

By chance we happened upon a young man seated at a makeshift table with a typewriter, advertising himself as a “Dream Poet for Hire” available to compose a poem on the spot on any subject. Considering the occasion, I said the words on all of our minds, “Sudden death.”

He started tapping away on a small card approx. 4 x 5 inches, and when he had reached the end of the page perhaps no more than two minutes later, he whipped it out of his typewriter, signed it with a flourish, and handed it to me. The line spacing (and his typographical error) I attribute in large part to his speed, perhaps not to measured consideration, but I reproduce it here as closely as possible.

I put a bill in his donation jar. I shared it, as we walked, with Fred and Kathie, but no one else has ever seen it. Indeed, the poet himself has no record of it either as I am in possession of the original straight off the press, as it were.

For Nina’s birthday on April 4—her 85th—I’d like to share this impromptu poem about someone the poet never met or knew, just a spontaneous riff on the topic, for what it may be worth.

Sudden Death

by Marshall James Kavanaugh

@DreamPoetForHire

August 17, 2019, rittenhouse square, philly, pa

Too soon

the heart ceases to tick

an abrupt about turn

and with one last kick

the breath

escapes

the body

saddned [sic] are those surprised

by this quick escape

the artist

conjuring drama

in their last masterpiece

but soon feelings

are reflected

hopes of rest

and peace that awaits

for even if sudden

this slumber that awaits

is at least without pain.

those parts of the heart

left behind in the dust.