Poetry

The review of Flares and Fathoms, from which the following poems are taken, appeared in the previous issue. Blizzard: Brooklyn View A man shovels in a parking lotfor a car…

The Regiment That morning they’d bent to don their black-soled bootsafter hours through which none of them had slept.Bending to tie them, not one thought to refusethe fate that dogged…

the birds praise Joan of Arc at Domrémy the pigeons singwith a do, and a re, and a mi— at Vaucouleurs all in a ringthe hens refuse to lay— the…

Tarot Readings Daily They’re reading Tarot cards right now,in the little pink house with the sign in the yard.Shadows spider across still-green lawnwhose fate, so far, defies the frosts. Someone…

DEATH Jerusalem dances on living bodies,on dead bodies, on flesh, on stone—she doesn’t notice, she is not looking down.“You love death more than me,” God accuses her,“but I own death,do…

When he found it, we said let it alone,call the police.  But he tampered with it,took money out before a squad car arrived.Baffled, the officers grew annoyed,made accusations of hoax,…

Drunk Girls in the Bathroom We showed each other our titsfor some reason, and she lit uplike the Fourth of July and toldme that mine sit real pretty. Shehad a…

After Sappho 84 Parting’s deathsorrow. Weeping walked away‘Things worked against us, Sappho.’ In her grief.‘It’s not your fault.’ A comfortable belief.I found brow-stroking calming things to say.‘Child you were loved.…

The Drowned Women Now is the hour when the drowned arise,Like water lilies whose white bloom has fled.Their gowns are full and wide as unfurled sailsThat will not see their…

Tour I stand by a pond that reflectsthe golden light of late morning;my feet hang from the sky. Two men are swimming frantically toward meyelling with throats full of waterdesperate…