{"id":9433,"date":"2026-04-20T17:58:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/?post_type=article&p=9433"},"modified":"2026-04-20T17:58:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:58:38","slug":"a-garden-at-night","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/a-garden-at-night\/","title":{"rendered":"A Garden at Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

for<\/span>\u00a0Michael Burkard (<\/span>1947-2024)<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After you died,<\/p>\n

you had a dinner party<\/p>\n

in a garden at night<\/p>\n

Our table for four<\/p>\n

down wide stone steps<\/p>\n

Green leaves starred<\/p>\n

with flowers it was too<\/p>\n

dark to see them living<\/p>\n

around us but I could<\/p>\n

feel them breathing in<\/p>\n

our breathing out<\/p>\n

that tenderness only<\/p>\n

our table lit\u00a0 \u00a0ourselves<\/p>\n

circled around it you<\/p>\n

across from me<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two friends of yours\u00a0 \u00a0men<\/p>\n

on either side<\/p>\n

You\u2019d cooked a dish<\/p>\n

with truffles which<\/p>\n

was funny as in life my<\/p>\n

life with you you<\/p>\n

couldn\u2019t really cook<\/p>\n

once spooning tuna<\/p>\n

from a tin into soup<\/p>\n

on the stove trying<\/p>\n

to get some protein in<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even in the afterlife<\/p>\n

your guests picky<\/p>\n

eaters\u00a0 \u00a0one man & I<\/p>\n

both had items on our<\/p>\n

plates we couldn\u2019t eat<\/p>\n

& you bowed your<\/p>\n

head in laughter<\/p>\n

waves of it shaking<\/p>\n

so hard it shut<\/p>\n

your eyes & you said<\/p>\n

that the man & I<\/p>\n

could give each other<\/p>\n

what we didn\u2019t want<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You\u2019d figured out<\/p>\n

the entire dilemma &<\/p>\n

were so delighted<\/p>\n

As when we wanted<\/p>\n

to open the Entire Dilemma<\/p>\n

Bakery with each cookie<\/p>\n

named for a poet<\/p>\n

the round shortbread<\/p>\n

with a chocolate thumbprint<\/p>\n

in the center: the Neruda<\/p>\n

poet after poet<\/p>\n

deciding what their cookie<\/p>\n

would be it seemed we<\/p>\n

could just imagine a thing<\/p>\n

& it might appear<\/p>\n

the happiest I\u2019ve ever<\/p>\n

seen you: head bent<\/p>\n

eyes down shoulders shaking<\/p>\n

body letting go laughing<\/p>\n

& laughing look up<\/p>\n

I want to say look up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

for\u00a0Michael Burkard (1947-2024)   After you died, you had a dinner party in a garden at night Our table for four down wide stone steps Green leaves starred with flowers it was too dark to see them living around us but I could feel them breathing in our breathing out that tenderness only our table […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9434,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9433","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Garden at Night - The Florida Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/a-garden-at-night\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Garden at Night - 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