Issue 8: Rae Armantrout
Persistence
What if one loves
what she thinks of as
her former self
in what she takes
to be another’s
eyes?
*
The celebration of false wealth -
or “Cold Light” -
is my favorite.
Blue glittering
fruit,
as if frost
might be our guest.
Countless small
white bulbs
behind cutout crystals.
*
The persistence
of desire
in mind
after desire
has or hasn’t
been fulfilled:
the “other world”
Fallacies
It would be false to say
that the sea or sky
have moods;
that they are moods
is irrefutable.
*
Here’s a pink and purple
capsule
rolling gaily
end over end
along the top
of your mailbox
as if you might want
to follow it
off screen.
*
Beneath the Darkness.
Between Notes.
Black.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.
Don’t Go Into the Woods.
*
If heaven
is a placeless
fizz
Habitat
Habitat themed enclosure.
Zen inflected mug.
*
Around the block
dogs bark at absence.
Rae Armantrout's book Versed (Wesleyan, 2009) won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her most recent book, Money Shot, was published by Wesleyan in 2011. She teaches writing and poetics at UC San Diego.
