Poetry |

“Ars Poetica III (Time Destroys All Things)” & “When We See (No Joke)”

Ars Poetica III (Time Destroys All Things)

 

 

And in plain sight the missionaries and pickpockets — the mouths they refuse.

. . .

Including the baskets and hours that form the world you have no use for.

. . .

Or a pair of bloody scissors left behind — to remember, to cross back.

. . .

Effortless, in wonder, mourners and martyrs who are made to make.

. . .

The richness — and the brightness — the rush, at times, of getting there.

. . .

After all, misled, lightning gathers at the top of the page. Without fail.

. . .

The poem disappears into the distance with the poet who wrote the poem.

. . .

You also disappear into the distance — here, towards the we of anonymity.

 

 

 

*     *     *     *     *

 

 

 

When We See (No Joke)

 

 

Yes, here’s the pressure of softness.

. . .

When the aftermath comes to visit.

. . .

We want but those hours inside silt.

. . .

Open and chocking for our moment.

. . .

On our path to the pleasure of trying.

. . .

Reason and what can happen outside.

. . .

Where idiosyncrasies draw near us.

. . .

The unmissable feast, the wetlands.

. . .

Advertising some misguided figures.

. . .

Of speech, whitecaps hung up to dry.

. . .

If only for a while, all we are is this.

. . .

This simplicity that catches our eyes.

 

 

/     /     /     /     /

 

Also On The Seawall — Daniele Pantano translates eight poems by Robert Walser, from Robert Walser: The Poems (Seagull Books, 2022).

Contributor
Daniele Pantano

Daniele Pantano is a Swiss poet, essayist, and translator. His work has been translated into over a dozen languages and published in journals including ConjunctionsEvergreen Review, GuernicaHarper’s MagazineInternational PoetryLiterary Hub, Modern Poetry in Translation, and Poetry London. His most recent books are Home for Difficult Children: A Memoir in Verse (Black Lawrence Press, 2023), Robert Walser: The Poems (Seagull Books, 2022), and The Damned: Selected Poems of Georg Trakl (Broken Sheep Books, 2023).

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