Poetry |

“Self-Portrait at Midlife Crisis”

Of course that’s snow thatching

the night roof, what’s left of the roof.

 

Because he believed what each believe in

is home. Just another creature trying

 

to make paper cranes, ending up with

crumpled paper. Today we shall invent

 

tears. Today we shall beat crystal meth

back into earth. My remarks are organic

 

matter, just another creature trying to be

born from death. Today, we shall come

 

into existence. And then we shall comb

existence. It’s ruined and redolent

 

as ever. And right around the corner

and every lovely Russian word awaits

 

to advise on how to reach for something

beyond your hands. We’re exposed

 

as prose, a lot of view imagination is.

Let’s visit our hatred free in the light

 

of dark, try to hear some structures

begun by a lovely woman, architecture

 

of the small distance of mourning

doves. I want to sell me and find

 

no rest heartbreakingly gentle.

Forgive me my blindness with mud.

 

When they come for me,

I want the killers to look like you.

 

Contributor
Philip Metres

Philip Metres has written ten books, including Sand Opera (2015) and The Sound of Listening: Poetry as Refuge and Resistance (2018). Awarded the Lannan Fellowship and two Arab American Book Awards, he is professor of English and director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University. Philip is a contributing editor of On The Seawall.

Posted in Poetry

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