Appendix I

Introduction

The following is an autobiographical poem written by Todd Anderson, published posthumously. It comes from a collection of works that he requested to be published only after his death. This was part of a letter addressed to Virginia “Ginny” Danburry, his longtime friend. She was once rumoured by the tabloids to be his girlfriend until she published a memoir with his help in 1992, where Danburry revealed that she had been in a romantic relationship with her stylist, Christine Noel, since 1969.

— The Editor (2010)

“Ginny and Chris”

1972

You called me in December the night I expected you back home

I had been waiting by the phone, you told me

Plans changed and you landed in Vermont

A place we had sworn

Not to revisit

But it had been ten years before and you were missing someone

Who was worth going back for, I knew who it was

I wished you luck in earnest and you ended the call

Without having to say

Her name

You got back to New York a week later just in time for Christmas

With someone new in tow, you reintroduced us

I was worried that things would change

But what I hadn’t known was

How much better

Ginny,

We know death—

Sudden but the grief slow going—

Now I see you happy even in hiding and it reminds me:

A boarding school, a green sweater, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Chris Noel and Ginny Danburry have been retired since 1989 and are now currently living on the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

The full collection of short stories, autobiographical essays and letters written by Todd Anderson are available as one in To Make Much of Time.