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Poem Beginning in Berlin, Ending in Boston, and Bookended by Rilke

Tiana Clark

Tiana Clark is the author of I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018).

Themes

About this Poem

“I wrote this poem during my first time abroad for the Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Scholarship. Rilke’s words acted as the metallic snap from the spring-loaded lever inside the pinball machine in my mind, which launched the ball of my poem out of my body with a lyrical whoosh. Hence the long lines rushing and ricocheting in a paratactic, punchy rhythm. I wanted to capture the wild and wonderful strangeness of traveling in a new country coupled with the fugue state of being very sick and vulnerable. I believe language and love can fail us just as much as they can save us.”
—Tiana Clark

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More by this poet

After the Reading

someone asked me if my husband left me, or if I left him. After
the reading, someone asked me if there was a chance for
reconciliation as I shoved a pulled pork sandwich in my mouth
with Carolina Gold BBQ sauce oozing out the sides like neon

Tiana Clark

2023

Conversation with Phillis Wheatley #14

recovered letter from Obour Tanner

To Phillis Wheatley in Boston [Massachusetts]
New Port, February 6th, 1772
Dear Sister,

Tiana Clark

2018

Proof

I once made a diorama from a shoebox
for a man I loved. I was never a crafty person,

but found tiny items at an art store and did my best
to display the beginning bud of our little love,

a scene recreating our first kiss in his basement
apartment, origin story of an eight-year marriage.

Tiana Clark

2021

Poems

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Poem Beginning in Berlin, Ending in Boston, and Bookended by Rilke

More by this poet

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