Here

Arthur Sze

1950 –

Here a snail on a wet leaf shivers and dreams of spring.

Here a green iris in December.

Here the topaz light of the sky.

Here one stops hearing a twig break and listens for deer.

Here the art of the ventriloquist.

Here the obsession of a kleptomaniac to steal red pushpins.

Here the art of the alibi.

Here one walks into an abandoned farmhouse and hears a

tarantella.

Here one dreamed a bear claw and died.

Here a humpback whale leaped out of the ocean.

Here the outboard motor stopped but a man made it to this

island with one oar.

Here the actor forgot his lines and wept.

Here the art of prayer.

Here marbles, buttons, thimbles, dice, pins, stamps, beads.

Here one becomes terrified.

Here one wants to see as a god sees and becomes clear amber.

Here one is clear pine.

Río Chamita

Mule deer browse in the meadow
and meander in clusters down the slope
across a dry pond bed;

at a shooting range, we stare at a machine
loaded with orange-centered circular targets

but are not here to practice firing at ducks;

Arthur Sze

2021

Jaguar Song

—Just after you sign and envision building homes on this tract you smell me in the dark
know that I move through this terrain at night though you only think of building
and selling even now you believe you can borrow my spirit by wearing a mask of my
face on your face look at me delve into your fears is your deepest fear to be hacked

Arthur Sze

2021

Scintillant

Trudging uphill, I turn onto a deer path
then follow the switchbacks you marked
with orange streamers until I arrive

at a cairn and overlook where I view
the gold run of cottonwoods through the city;
western tanagers migrate through the city.

Arthur Sze

2021

Poems

Here

More by this poet

Río Chamita

Jaguar Song

Scintillant

Poems

Page submenu block

Here

More by this poet

Río Chamita

Jaguar Song

Scintillant

Newsletter Sign Up