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 is the author of many books of poetry and has also been featured in a number of major anthologies. Her most recent books include Finalists, 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.
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