Corruptive by Olena Kalytiak Davis

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend April 9, 2014   Corruptive   Olena Kalytiak Davis

The dark wood after the dark wood: the cold after cold in April’s false November. In that second worser place: more gone, less there, but in that lurid present present, cast and held, rooted, kept, like some old false-berried yew. Just against; the door leading to preferment shut; no longer believing in still, by some, few means, method, could be, but for the bad day set, left, leaning atop bad day.                                                                                                        Out- and un- ranked, toothached, wronged—rankled corruptive thing! Ill-wishing, in-iquitous, clipped, up-hoped, stripped: just plain: thin. Dare thy commit: commit this final fatal sin: God my God, I am displeased by spring.         Copyright © 2014 by Olena Kalytiak Davis. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “Seems the wrack of not living up to/meeting spring (much less National Poetry Month) is a recurrent theme for me. This is last April’s version/stunted bud. I think of it as a little Hopkinsesque, but it was in fact inspired/shaped by Donne’s discontent, that of the spring of 1608(!), (after the king dashed his hopes of getting a state job). Perhaps the part of the tradition I feel closest to...” —Olena Kalytiak Davis   Olena Kalytiak Davis is the author of Shattered Sonnets, Love Cards, and Other Off and Back Handed Importunities (Bloomsbury, 2003). The Poem She Didn’t Write and Other Poems is forthcoming this year from Copper Canyon Press. Davis lives in Alaska. Most Recent Book by Davis   Shattered Sonnets, Love Cards, and Other Off and Back Handed Importunities (Bloomsbury, 2003) "Domestic" by Deborah Landau "Me in Paradise" by Brenda Shaughnessy "A Toast" by Ilya Kaminsky Poem-a-Day   This week’s Poem-a-Day is curated by Academy of American Poets Chancellor Edward Hirsch. Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. 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.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038