Editor’s Note: Jack Gilbert’s poem, “A Brief for the Defense,” is included in a memorial tribute to him, published in the July 2013 issue of the The Sun.

I believe the best poems are conversations -- the kind of conversations that stay with you, that you recall word-for-word forty years later.  Jack Gilbert’s “A Brief for the Defense” is that kind of poem.  I remember every detail of my first encounter with it. I was at a retreat.  The room was hot.  The hard-backed chair forced me to sit at attention.  I knew that the conversation that began in those moments would continue for the rest of my life.  “Epistle to Jack Gilbert After  Re-reading a Brief for the Defense,” is my attempt to participate in that conversation which continues each time I read his poem, each time I dare to “risk delight” in our suffering world.   

Gloria Heffernan is the author of the poetry collection, What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List, (New York Quarterly Books), and Exploring Poetry of Presence:  A Companion Guide for Readers, Writers and Workshop Facilitators (Back Porch Productions).