V  E  R  G  E:
she sets type by hand and loves how the spaces

between letters and between words
are of the same type-metal the letters themselves are cast from:

o p e n   w a t e r :
standing along the Malecón, I gaze at the curving horizon of water and sky,
at whitecaps crashing below;

now, walking barefoot on an oak floor,

I expect to see, through the glass panes,
a stag enter the moonlit orchard

where autumn hangs in the branches, like smoked bourbon,
but no, not yet:

to arrive at a place where each letter of each word
rises out of metallic silence,

and in the yearning for this language to blackcap,
I ride a hush, a wave

where the silence will be broken,
when dogs bark at whatever crosses the fence line.

Arthur Sze

Poet, translator, and editor Arthur Sze is the author of ten books of poetry: Sight Lines; Compass Rose; The Ginkgo Light; Quipu; The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970-1998; Archipelago; River River; Dazzled; Two Ravens; and The Willow Wind. He is also a celebrated translator from the Chinese, and released The Silk Dragon: Translations from the Chinese. He is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and was the first poet laureate of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives.