Cover Photo: A childhood photo of the author with her baby cousin, both being embraced by their grandfather
Photograph courtesy of the author

On the Nature of Legacies and Joanna Newsom’s “Sapokanikan”

Who will remember me when I am gone? Will my stories exist beyond my life? And what about the things we already forgot?


I fell, I tried to do well but I won’t be

Will you tell the one that I loved to remember and hold me

Divers

A hundred years from now, may look and despair

And see with wonder

The tributes we have left to rust in the park

The snow falls above me

The renderer renders:

The event is in the hand of God

The land lone and levelled

By some unrecorded and powerful hand

So we all raise a standard

To which the wise and honest soul may repair

Vivian Lee is a book editor and writer based in New York. Her work can be found in The Los Angeles Times, Eater, The Rumpus, and more. Follow her on Twitter @vivianwmlee or on the internet at vivianwmlee.com.