H(over)
Gray July day,
humming-bird hovers
beak-deep in a hank
of late-blooming wisteria.
Is it—are they—
ever aware of failing,
of being awkward, inept?
Never.
They’re nothing if not
perfect.
*
“It’s demolition-derby
around here,” I say,
looking for a laugh
before it’s too late.
humming-bird hovers
beak-deep in a hank
of late-blooming wisteria.
Is it—are they—
ever aware of failing,
of being awkward, inept?
Never.
They’re nothing if not
perfect.
*
“It’s demolition-derby
around here,” I say,
looking for a laugh
before it’s too late.
Déja Vu
“Like calls to like.”
In the dream I knew I’d seen these
dripping, hangdog faces
in a dream before—
first in a mural
then as figurines
on a bookshelf
“Before” as metaphor.
As if recurrence meant more to me
than the faces themselves.
*
“Recursive self-locational processing
generates the awareness of self.”
In cog sci as in horror flicks,
“the call is coming
from inside the house.”
In the dream I knew I’d seen these
dripping, hangdog faces
in a dream before—
first in a mural
then as figurines
on a bookshelf
“Before” as metaphor.
As if recurrence meant more to me
than the faces themselves.
*
“Recursive self-locational processing
generates the awareness of self.”
In cog sci as in horror flicks,
“the call is coming
from inside the house.”
Legion
An individual, specimen, character,
party, customer, sort,
stiff, human being, devil,
cookie, slob, scout
split,
branched out,
covered his losses
and the earth,
filled in.
Once we had language,
we said,
we had been sent,
gone forth,
that we’d been
obedient.
party, customer, sort,
stiff, human being, devil,
cookie, slob, scout
split,
branched out,
covered his losses
and the earth,
filled in.
Once we had language,
we said,
we had been sent,
gone forth,
that we’d been
obedient.
Nil
While the day
To while the day
away
euphemistically.
To want it gone.
To kill time
freely,
willy-nilly.
To while the day
away
euphemistically.
To want it gone.
To kill time
freely,
willy-nilly.
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Rae Armantrout has published 17 books of poetry, mostly with Wesleyan University Press. A new book, Go Figure, is forthcoming from Wesleyan in September 2024. Armantrout is the judge of the Yale Younger Poets Prize.
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