Horse Face (audio only)

Here

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

Arthur Sze

1998

The Shapes of Leaves

Ginkgo, cottonwood, pin oak, sweet gum, tulip tree:
our emotions resemble leaves and alive
to their shapes we are nourished.

Have you felt the expanse and contours of grief
along the edges of a big Norway maple?
Have you winced at the orange flare

Arthur Sze

1998

—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

Poems

Horse Face (audio only)

More by this poet

Here

The Shapes of Leaves

Jaguar Song

Poems

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Horse Face (audio only)

More by this poet

Here

The Shapes of Leaves

Jaguar Song

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