when last spring
the hyacinth bells rang
and the crocuses flaunted
their upturned skirts.
All is silver: the heavy surface of the sea,
swelling as if considering spilling over,
is opaque,
but this is a city, and here
is an old woman on the curb,
is a black and living thing
is a favorite child
of the universe.
We worked into the edge of darkness
and rose in the edge of darkness
until everything came from the dirt,
and the air dangerous.
Noonday acts queerly.
When I dreamed, I dreamed of them
and believed they dreamed of us.
Forgive me my tiresome nostalgia. Forget it.
Let me forge a fissure between what was and is.
Soon it will be over, which is precisely
what the child in my dream said,
like converting sunlight
is a fish black blind in the belly of water
he put gently into the earth.
2. when last spring / the hyacinth bells rang / and the crocuses flaunted / their upturned skirts
ReplyDelete2. Ross Gay, "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude"
3. All is silver: the heavy surface of the sea, swelling slowly as if considering spilling over, is opaque
ReplyDelete3. Elizabeth Bishop, "At the Fishhouses"
4. but this is a city, and here is an old woman/on the curb
ReplyDelete4. Vievee Francis, from "Anti-Pastoral"
5. is a black a living thing / is a favorite child / of the universe
ReplyDelete5. Lucille Clifton, from "the earth is a living thing"
6. We worked into the edge of darkness/ and rose in the edge of darkness/ until everything came from the dirt.
ReplyDelete6. Terrance Hayes, from "Root"
7. And the air dangerous/Noonday acts queerly
ReplyDelete7.Sylvia Plath, from "Sleep in the Mojave Desert"
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ReplyDelete8. When I dreamed, I dreamed of them / and believed they dreamed of us
ReplyDelete8. Terrance Hayes
1. Forgive me my tiresome nostalgia. Forget it./
ReplyDeleteLet me forge a fissure between what was and is.
2. Vievee Francis, from "Anti-Pastoral"
9. Soon it will be over, which is precisely what the child in my dream said,
ReplyDelete9. Ross Gay, from "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude"
10. like converting sunlight
ReplyDelete10. Ross Grey, A Small Needful Fact
11. is a fish black blind in the belly of water
ReplyDelete11. Lucille Clifton, the earth is a living thing
12. he put gently into the earth
ReplyDelete12. Ross Gay, from "A Small Needful Fact"