In Our Late Empire, Love by Malachi Black

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend October 29, 2014   In Our Late Empire, Love   Malachi Black

drops from upper air,                                        like rain, clinging brightly                             to the fresh-cut hair of children                     and the infantry: all hail              the clicking heel, all will regale              the shrinking light with grains                      of wedding rice, of salt, of sands as fit                          a last brassy parade: the marching band                                     will soften with its growing-distant                                             drum, the oscillating hand                                      will stop its waving                    soon enough, soon enough;              here now, the motorcade hums            gaily through the citizens’ applause                 and the children’s eyes bronze faintly                          with the glint of far-off fireworks,                                or firebombs, or falling evening stars.            Copyright © 2014 by Malachi Black. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “‘In Our Late Empire, Love’ emerged from a curious sense of living in the political equivalent of Keats’s ‘posthumous existence’—a post-apex, late-imperial America—and I became interested in the idea of a domestic analogue to the ‘letter from the field.’  Recent events at home and abroad were of influence as well.” —Malachi Black   Malachi Black is the author of Storm Toward Morning (Copper Canyon Press, 2014).  He teaches at the University of San Diego and lives in San Diego. Most Recent Book by Black   Storm Toward Morning (Copper Canyon Press, 2014) "Bomb Crater Sky" by Lam Thi My Da "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg "December 2, 2002" by Juliana Spahr Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. 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