Poetry: October 2010, Vol CXCVII, Number 1, from p. 10-11, “Feeling the Draft” by Bob Hicok*,
We were young and it was an accomplishment
to have a body. No one said this. No one
said much beyond “throw me that sky” or
“can the lake sleep over?” The lake could not.
The lake was sent home and I ate too many
beets, went around with beet-blood tongue.
(* In that interesting interview he says, “By the end of the night, I felt distilled to a grin.”)
The Cloud Corporation, Timothy Donnelly (Wave Books, 2010). p. 33
It is the habit of a settled populaton to give ear to
whatever is desirable will come to pass, a carressing
confidence — but one unfortunately not borne out
by human experience, for most things people desire
have been desired ardently for thousands of years
and observe —they are no closer to realization today
than in Ramses’ time. Nor is there cause to believe
they will lose their coyness on some near tomorrow.
Frogpond Vol 33:3, 2010. p. 9, Mike Harris’
no moon a neuron reroutes a red alert
This, Patrick Kelley (chronopsis flipbooks, 2010)
IS
THIS
Blue Wherever, Barry Dempster (Signature Editions, 2010) p. 54 from “Library Book Sale”
You’ve already missed
most of your life in Miscellaneous.
Fact is, somewhere in here, a book
is calling you by name. Alphabetical
just a synonym for belonging.
Glimpse: Selected Aphorism, George Murray (ECW 2010) p. 15
You are in your element when you don’t know who will
next walk through the door but you’re confident that
whoever it is will be just fine.
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, Elizabeth Smart (Harper Collins reprint, 1945) . 25-6
The frustrations of past postponement can no longer be restrained. They hang ripe to burst with the birth of any moment. The typewriter is guilty with love and flowery with shame, and to me it speaks so loudly I fear it will communicate its indecency to casual visitors
Sandra Beck, John Lavery (Anansi, 2010) p. 136-7
He was marvelling at how the cluttered life of the apartment was relegated entirely to the floor, there being no decoration on the walls of any sort, no shelves or bookcases, and no furniture, apart from the TV, the sofa, the legless couch that might well have been a bed, when his eye was caught by a partly buried head, a bald head, over which was combed a shiny blck strip of hair reminiscent of a warped phonograph record. His heart leapt. Hasty escavation uncovered
The Niagara River, Kay Ryan (Grove Press, 2005), p. 24
Tenderness and rot
share a border.
And rot is an
aggressive neighbour
whose irridescence
keeps creeping over.
No lessons
can be drawn
from this however.
One is not
two countries.
One is not meat
corrupting.
It is important
to stay sweet
and loving.
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers, Xiaolu Guo (Vintage 2007). p. 193
there is a line you draw between you and me. There is a limit, from your heart, from your lifestyle, which makes love feel like friendship. You live inside of me, but I don’t live inside of you.
You said Frida Kahlo is one of your heroes. Of course I knew that. I knew that from your book shelf. I knew that because I knew your heroes are always in pain, and died of young.
Names Above Houses, Oliver de la Paz (Southern Illinois University Press, 2001). p. 13, from “Insects in Maria Elena’s Kitchen”
Beneath the house, they make their way with their hungers close to earth. They make no apologies when leaking between floorboards. They know about the body. They move with the glow of something stolen.