From Tanaga

By DON SHARE and JOHN KINSELLA  

 

17. 

The cicadas come every… 
How many years? The cycles 
Are all fucked up now. Even 
Insects know the end is near.  

The emerald ash borer looks 
Like a jewel; its value 
Lies in destructiveness to 
Species—ours—that feed on ash. 

18.

Dead shade—wandoo crown decline— 
And mortal remains arrive 
Here—an increase in sightings— 
Living dead. Each moment counts. 

Orbweaver drops off its perch. 
Fly is caught in its own web. 
Beetle flies the mesosphere. 
I’ll sleep on it, wake again. 

19.

Bob’s bird Spinoza reads books. 
I don’t know what kind of bird 
It is; I don’t know what kind 
Of bird reads so quietly. 

20.

Horsfields bronze cuckoo claims back  
Self-naming rights—nomadic,  
Its at the front door saying,  
My green back, black strike-thru eyes.  

21. 

Robert E. Lee, still in bronze— 
Will you surrender again? 
Dismount, Sir, for the Union. 
[Here insert emoticons] 

22.

So, Captain Cook discovered 
This territory?—the proofs 
A statue. Indigenous 
Peoples take note. Railroading. 

23.

Uncivil wars: if you’re not 
With me, you’re antifa me. 
No one leads in effigy. 
Let these crowds part, and depart. 

24.

March is a walk in the park?  
Deer hunting is seasonal  
Like hay fever? Gun lobby  
Is a hobbyhorse for Death.  

 

[Purchase Issue 19 here.] 

 

Don Share is editor of POETRY. His books include Wishbone, Union, and Bunting’s Persia; he also edited a critical edition of Basil Bunting’s poems and a selection of Bunting’s prose. His translations of Miguel Hernández received the Times Literary Supplement’s translation prize and Premio Valle-Inclán. His other books include Seneca in EnglishSquandermaniaThe Open Door: 100 Poems, 100 Years of POETRY Magazine; and Who Reads Poetry: 50 Views from POETRY Magazine. His work at POETRY has been recognized with three National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors and a CLMP Firecracker Award for best literary magazine.

John Kinsella is the author of over forty books. His most recent poetry work includes the volumes Drowning in Wheat: Selected Poems and Insomnia, which will be released in the U.S. by W. W. Norton in fall 2020. Recent fiction includes the story collections Crow’s Breath and Old Growth, and the novels Lucida Intervalla and Hollow Earth. He often works in collaboration with other poets, artists, musicians, and activists. He is a fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, and Professor of Literature and Environment at Curtin University, Western Australia.

From Tanaga

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