Their Answer

Their Answer Francine Marie Tolf (bio) Last April, we were blessedwith the usual amazement:pebble-hard seedsquietlybreaking opento spill glory. But crocus and lilacshave long turned brown. What blooms in thislater seasonis sound:the pulsing and rasping,cheeping and chirrupingof grasshoppers, cicadas,tens of thousandsof fiercely alive beings. They sob life.They sob urgency.A silent season is coming. Their answer to thisis another kind of glory.They die singing. [End Page 341] Francine Marie Tolf Francine Marie Tolf has published essays and poems in numerous journals. She is the author of four full-length poetry collections, most recently Spill Some New Brightness (Pinyon Press, 2022). She has also published a memoir, Joliet Girl, an essay collection, and several chapbooks; she lives in Minneapolis. Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press