Issue 122

It’s enormous, / my unknowing.

The man with the white beard remembers / the body

My belief: that the words are in the world, and that we are consubstantial with the world, that we are immanent along with it, the words become our world.

In the end it’s always bondage that drives you / into the quick of clarity,

In direction as well as magnitude, a minke whale surfaces

Grace leaves us wordless. This commonality, though, is what makes the genre of testimony so compelling.

Insight, never a stranger,
appeared (as love does)
suddenly naked
beside you.

When a desire remains unfulfilled—when, for example, our viewing of a televised sporting event is interrupted—our frustration can create a sense of discomfort or longing, directing our focus toward the presence and intensity of desire itself.

From conversations with viewers, I’ve learned that their experience depends a lot on the physical presence of my work, not just the size but also how it connects with its surroundings.

my own fog
belt/belly,
short of room
to fit both