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Love abandons you fear abandons you the summers fall on you in sheaves and who will — as you grow more fragile and smaller when the wind blows upward at the edge of the precipice — hold you back with a gentle touch.
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With Child
When my love walks, the fetus sways asleep, its face covered with fur. She walks to work. She walks under the trees, through the dilapidated halls, telling her students you can do it. But when she comes home, and lies down, tired and willing to forget herself, it begins: the kicking, the panic within. She…
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The Turtle Lovers
Those armored domes would appear at random, the gifts of chance. Like us hearing the sinister rustle of leaves during a stalled moment of those games we played in the woodlot. My little brother and I would bring the box turtle home, where we'd built a cage out of old window screens. At first it'd…
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Paradise Consists of Forty-nine Rotating Spheres
—C. G. Jung on archetypal dream imagery paradise gave me these legs for spinning weep and pray and be joyful paradise gave me these legs to weep and pray and be joyful when I have fixed each corner p l i é relevé spin I start the silky spokes p l i é relevé…
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Blurred Mirror
Touch my hand from the outer edge, touch it firmly but gentle be, try to find the radial artery. Heavy lids pull off delicately and exercise the pupils' reflexes. Put the mirror close to my mouth and see if breath clouds the glass. If nothing can be caught shroud me in sleek silk, press the…
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To the Poet, Mei Yao-ch’en
We listen for the clear voice of our rooster, with all his might demanding the day. There is only quiet, a weak light coming anyway. I’ve looked wherever a bird unfit for life in the wild might hide. It was his coop, his kingdom. He showed the cat his wrath. He sparked the little fleck…
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Names
The names of stars: Sirius. Arcturus, Alpha Centauri, Vega. The names of Hungarians: Laszlo, Tibor, Zoltan, Sandor. The names of the great rivers: Nile, Congo, Amazon, Orinoco, Zambezi. The names of ships: African Dawn, China Bear, Coral Sea, Delta Queen. The names of the Spanish explorers: Cortez, Balboa, De Soto, Coronado. The names on the…
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The Day the World Ends
El dia del fin del mundo. . . yo grabaré mis iniciales en la corteza de un tilo sabiendo que eso no sirve para nada. — Jorge Teillier The day on which the world ends will of course be different in each place. Here it is raining, there snowing. Here the night shields the now…
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Little Foot
Under the bed I found your old sock Like a bird peeking out The sleeve of my shirt. I plucked it up. So sad, little foot, Now it's in the pocket Of my coat for luck. Later in the earth I'll feed its nest, Worms a plenty In my good dark suit.