Poem-A-Day: At Bay by Carl Phillips

December 3, 2013 At Bay by Carl Phillips Coral-bells purpled the fallen sycamore leaves, dead, the dead  versus those who attempted death, versus those who effectively  fashioned out of such attempts a style akin to electric guitar  shimmer swelling and unswelling like starlings when they first  lift off, or like stars when, from their fixed sway, they come  suddenly loose, any man letting at last go of a career spent  swallowing--trying to--catastrophe's jewel-studded tail, un-  swallowable, because    holy, in the way of fanfare, its gift for persuasion, how it can make of what's ordinary, and therefore  flawed of course, a thing that's holy, for a time it seemed so,  didn't restlessness seem to be, little god of making, no less    impossible in the end than any of the gods, where's the holiness,  they sleep never, they tire infrequently, to be tired bores them,  distraction refined by damage would be their drug of choice  hands down, if they could choose, even they don't get to.        Copyright © 2013 by Carl Phillips. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem "For some reason, I have only thought of the phrase 'at bay' as meaning something like 'at a safe distance.' I was interested to learn that its chief meaning comes from hunting, that moment when an animal is forced to turn and face its attackers. Originally I wanted to call this poem 'Artillery,' after the George Herbert poem." --Carl Phillips       Carl Phillips is the author of numerous books of poems, including Silverchest (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013). He is a former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and teaches at Washington University in St. Louis.    Most Recent Book by Phillips Silverchest (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013)   Poem-A-Day  Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day  features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary  poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the  Poem-A-Day Archive.     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.

Forward this email This email was sent to prentice654.allsms@blogger.com by academy@poets.org |   Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Academy of American Poets | 75 Maiden Lane | Suite 901 | New York | NY | 10038