Or Would You Stand At The Shore And Pray Tsunamis At It?

I'm going back and rereading the poetry books that initially excited me about the written and spoken word. First up, Mark Doty's Atlantis. This is the second of probably three interactions about how my response to this book changed over twenty years.

The first one is here.

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Rebuilding Atlantis At Twenty-Nine


1.  The Shape Of Things

The subject of the night's
        workshop is line breaks
                and how they shape the

way the reader interprets
        the poem. I hate American
                waterfall tercets. In fact,

all unnecessarily shaped
        stanzas detract from my
                interest in what a poet is

trying to say. I understand
        they think it looks pretty.
                It gives me a headache.

I still love Mark Doty's
        work even if I don't like
                how it's laid on the page.


2. Emerald Legacy

If you look closely at this
handful of sand Turquoise
and emerald Sapphire and
crushed pearl All this silt
All this emerald Sand is only brown
from a distance Shattered
rocks Crushed coral Once
royal and thriving Now
loose foothold for children
to build into wet castles
Everything beautiful looks
plain from a distance
There is nothing alluring
when the polish has been
ground into 
                        well 
                                 grounds
Emerald at fingertips So
what Tiny grains of quartz
small enough to sprinkle
over corn flakes Beauty
tastes terrible Gets stuck
in teeth Opal amongst
beige Everything looks
so beige until you really
stare Flakes of emerald
sparkle through the blah
There is always something living
                                                   thriving despite
the paper bag covering 
our textbook lives Always
something emerald if
you know how to look
Not where to How to 


3. Grief Is Exhausting And Everywhere

I didn't see ryan's sickness until
it killed him I didn't look
for comfort in shoots of dune
grass I didn't imagine our future
coming to a point 
Curling to fist

I didn't imagine we needed 
a lighthouse to protect us Shimmer
of crest Agate shadows 

It wasn't
until i had to turn around
that i ever noticed
the shape of my own
shadow lacking
his beside me