After I buried my mother, running from the

    shelling of the graveyard; after soldiers returned

    my brother's body wrapped in a tarp; after I saw

    the fire reflected in the eyes of my children as

    they ran to the cellar among the dreadful rats;

    after I wiped with the dishtowel the blood from

    the face of an old woman, fearing I would

    recognize her; after I saw a hungry dog licking

    the blood of a man lying at a crossing: after

    everything, I would like to write poems which

    resemble newspaper reports, so bare and cold

    that I could forget them the very moment a

    stranger asks: Why do you write poems which

    resemble newspaper reports?

Shoutout to lil as well for suggesting Simic to me more than a year ago now over here and relates to his preface of the book.


posted 3718 days ago