Visible From Space

In the crosswalk, a woman plods,
swinging her arms briskly.

One of many
who act out

the act

they are actually
performing.

While crop circles
parody
the desire to be seen

and I shove off
to look askance.

Doubt
is an out
of body experience.

Incognito Mode

This
morning stillness with its
occasional ripples, shivers,
shrugs —

seemingly unprovoked

*

If matter is tufted
energy, then energy

is what?

*

I ask because,
if I know anything,

it’s that each thing
is something else.

I Think

I come between
the furnace roar
and traffic

to divide them

and further
to distinguish
sound

from pressure.

*

“A thought and its
accompanying mental image,”
I say

to nobody,

causing three donkeys
to lift their heads
and stare.

Rae Armantrout

Website

Rae Armantrout is the author of many books of poetry and has also been featured in a number of major anthologies. Her most recent books include Conjure, Versed (winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry), Money Shot, Just Saying, Itself, Partly: New and Selected Poems, 2001-2015, and Wobble (a National Book Awards finalist). Armantrout currently teaches at the University of California, San Diego, where she is Professor of Poetry and Poetics.