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Acropolis by Rimas Uzgiris

October 1, 2013 Contributed By: Rimas Uzgiris

For Francesca

The columns curve slightly inward,
like the fabric of your skirt when you walk,
and there are no other sights like this one,
only intimations of the one we love.

All things seep white light and breathe
through lazy, Attic afternoons. Stones
are loaned life by a searing breeze
blowing down from barren hills.

Does it matter how many people
walk over these smooth-worn rocks?
I touch the marble and your eyes, and feel
that my life is like a broken crock.

Bend down to see the curving floor.
Curve your Roman lips at my mien—
a charade—desire, laughter—destined
more quickly than words to fade.

Off the cliff, above the white city,
a kestrel flies—motionless—by our side.
This too captures me, like the broken marble,
your tepid smile, and like the mythic tree.

 

Return to table of contents for Issue 7 Summer 2013

Filed Under: Poetry Posted On: October 1, 2013

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by Heather Bourbeau

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Every semester I get the same email from my program’s artistic director: “Hey Creative Writing Instructors! Introduce yourself to your students!”  The survey requests my favorite quotes about writing. (Chekov: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”)  It invites me to share practical advice. (“If there’s […]

Collaborative Gender(s): A Review of Ava Hofmann’s MY MY SUMMER OF TOTAL FFAILURE
by Robin Gow

The poems leave me curious about what it means to create these distinctions and what we can learn from our edges of “self.”

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