Kristofer Collins: Looking at the Lake
Where are your
wonderful ideas now? All ten thousand
of them, each one a tiny grain you
let loose in this world.
Danielle DeTiberus: Selection Pressures
Only a man,
standing in line at Lowe’s, red leaf blower and blue
electrical tape in his cart. Unlike the lizard,
we can imagine his dreams.
T. R. Hummer: Think
It’s impossible sometimes to make your way
through the undergrowth—think of Desoto,
Think of Cabeza de Vaca hacking down briars
Carolyn Miller: By the Time
By the time the light reaches us, empty
sunflower fields are pitted with more craters.
Stephen Dobyns: Can Poetry Matter?
Heart feels the time has come to compose lyric poetry.
No more storytelling for him. Oh, Moon, Heart writes,
sad wafer of the heart’s distress. And then: Oh, Moon,
bright cracker of the heart’s pleasure.
Nina Kossman: Valley of Closed Eyes
Dipping my cheekbones
into the blind substance,
into the cooling water of the maternal yes
Enheduanna: Seven Sumerian Temple Hymns (2300 BCE)
The temple seems to listen as she describes its resident: “your lady a water bird — sacred woman of the inner chamber,” she says to the temple in the intimate conversation that characterizes each hymn.
Mary Jane White: Friend, You Count Yourself Faithless,
…the Sea and all her ships
are women you are too certain of —
who would not marry you for love.