Poetry | Page 66 | The Common

The Summerbook of Giyorgis Balthus

November 1, 2016 Issue 12, Issue 12 Poetry, Poetry

Giyorgis Balthus: 1321-1400

We surged in the moon-darkened
room, between counter-actions,
naked, our spectres clocking
the grey-scale before morning,

Pegasus

November 1, 2016 Issue 12, Issue 12 Poetry, Podcasts & Audio, Poetry

By VALERIE DUFF

Iron mallet, shield of glass. Our
genesis a crucible of gas
and condensation shot straight through the aorta

The Blue Hat

November 1, 2016 Issue 12, Issue 12 Poetry, Poetry

By WYATT TOWNLEY

The forecast was wrong.
The bald guy smiling
but wrong. The blonde
with swinging hair

wrong. Their software,
their reading of currents. Rain,
they said, rain for days.

Wythe County in July

November 1, 2016 Issue 12, Issue 12 Poetry, Poetry

By DOLORES HAYDEN

Stare…

—Walker Evans’ advice to young artists

So here’s a board-and-batten house—
a wall of planks with ragged ends
behind the windows’ splitting sills—

Virgil’s Tattoo

November 1, 2016 Issue 12, Issue 12 Poetry, Poetry

By MAX FREEMAN
Virgil got his tattoo in Megara
Around the time he knew that his great poem
Must be destroyed. A reckless decision.

This month, we are featuring a collaboration between poet Tina Cane and visual artist Esther Solondz, in response to Elena Ferrante’s fiction. Their work in full will be featured in the book, Dear Elena: Letters for Elena Ferrante from Skillman Avenue Press in November.