Poem-A-Day: After David Hammons by Claudia Rankine

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After David Hammons by Claudia Rankine In the darkened moment a body gifted with the blue     light of a flashlight enters with levity, with or without assumptions,     doubts, with desire, the beating heart, disappointment, with desires-- Stand where you are. You begin to move around in search of the steps it     will take before you are thrown back into your own body, back into your     own need to be found. Destinations are lost. You raise yourself. No one else     is seeking. You exhaust yourself looking into the blue light. All     day blue burrows the atmosphere. What doesn't belong with you     won't be seen. You could build a world out of need or you could     hold everything back and see. You could hold everything back. You     hold back the black. You hold everything black. You hold this body's lack.     You hold yourself back until nothing's left but the dissolving blues     of metaphor. Copyright © 2013 by Claudia Rankine. Used with permission of the author. Poetry by Rankine Don't Let Me Be Lonely January 16, 2013 Claudia Rankine is a newly elected Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She is the author of four collections of poetry, including Don't Let Me Be Lonely (Graywolf, 2004). Related Poems Ivory Black [Not to speak] by Myriam Moscona After Catullus by Lisa Jarnot Langston Blue by Jericho Brown Poem-A-Day started as a National Poetry Month program in 2006, delivering daily poems from newly-published poetry titles.   Due to popular demand, Poem-A-Day became a year-round program in 2010, featuring original, never-before-published poems by contemporary poets on weekdays, and classic poems on weekends.   Browse the Poem-A-Day archive for selections since 2010.  Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem In Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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