O minutehand, teach mehow to hold a man the way thirst holds water. Let every river envyour mouths. Let every kiss hit the body like a season. Where apples thunderthe earth with red hooves. — Ocean Vuong, from “A Little Closer to the Edge,” Poetry ( April 2016)
To the Present Tense By the time you areby the time you come to beby the time you read thisby the time you are writtenby the time you forgetby the time you are water through fingersby the time you are taken for grantedby the time it hurtsby the time it goes on hurtingby the time… Continue reading W.S. Merwin
It had been a long day at the office and a long ride back to the small apartment where I lived. When I got there I flicked on the light and saw on the table an envelope with my name on it. Where was the clock? Where was the calendar? The handwriting was my father’s,… Continue reading Mark Strand
And the too much of my speaking:heaped up round the littlecrystal dressed in the style of your silence. — Paul Celan, from “Below,” Poetry Magazine December 197
Tonight I killed a moth with my hardcover copyof the Bhagavad Gita Wracked with guiltthen you must move on / You flutteredpanicked against the curtains / I was panicked tooYou rushed towards me so quick I feel awful nowCould’ve opened the window Could’ve let you goNow I convince myself / You’ll be reincarnated as something… Continue reading Brennan Sprague
Alas! everything is an abyss — action, desire, dreams,Words!” — Charles Baudelaire, from “The Abyss”, trans. Wallace Fowlie. Poetry (September 1961)
Don’t be fooled,these lines were not written by mebut, one day by a heron or a shower of rain,another by an aspen.A hint of love was enoughto set them alight. — Phillippe Jaccottet, from “Windblown Fragments,” trans. C. K. Snead, Sport 38 (Winter 2010)
tell me what you loved, touched, wondered:did you dream?did you stare at your own reflection?an aching to sliver between the fluttering colors of her consciousness,the human of her, to know her ripest and most shiny parts,for her to hold my face close, spill her metallic language into meuntil i recognize that i am of her,… Continue reading Lucy Seward
Say goodbye to black-eyed Susans, long seagrasses. Late-evening barbecues, childrendigging in the sand, the praying mantis.Put away your binoculars. Eventhe birds are hiding for a betterseason. One of us joined a support groupor is leaving the marriage. Anotherneeds to change meds. Teenagers are virtual-dating. No need for soliloquy. We’vemastered the grand art of text. I’m… Continue reading Jill Bialosky
I promise I’ll love you foreverif you please just don’t make mestart now. What I mean is, on some nights I miss you so muchthat I never want to see you again. — Ali Shapiro, from “If I Leave You Then Maybe I Won’t Have To Miss You So Much,” [pank]7.07 / July 2012
The Vale of Soul-Making 