Wild Silk by Brian Russell

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend November 17, 2014   Wild Silk   Brian Russell

out in the wild the kingdom of worms spin in silence in separation and live to leave behind   what’s become to them useless such as luxury begins and again becomes   the meticulous work it took to shape a pattern out of patience wore down a continent’s   grasses into paths and passed through dangerous terrain for what for something so indisputably beautiful   you’d be willing to trade everything for it you’d be willing to go to war to wear it under your armor as close as anything   might get to your heart, it’s hard to believe something so small so easy to kill for even less could produce this dress this red mess it makes of my senses            Copyright © 2014 by Brian Russell. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “In commercial silk production, I recently learned, domesticated silkworms are killed by pricking them with a needle or boiling them in water while they’re still inside their cocoons, so the thread can be unwound as one long piece. More and more, I’ve been thinking about the various ways I’m wittingly and unwittingly complicit in things.” —Brian Russell   Brian Russell is the author of The Year of What Now (Graywolf Press, 2013). He lives in Chicago. Most Recent Book by Russell   The Year of What Now  (Graywolf Press, 2013) "Dressmaker" by Éireann Lorsung "My Shoes" by Charles Simic "What Do Women Want" by Kim Addonizio Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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