Diorama by J. Mae Barizo

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 24, 2016   Diorama   J. Mae Barizo

We went to watch the hawks   glow their side of the enclosure   eyes wet from looking, afterwards   in the museum park I watched Lou   rub the lit cigarette into her arm   sun spilling over  her face, knowing   she was blind to me sometimes   you can look and look   the trees the trees the black and gold glassed-in air, museum of monkey figurines and butterflies gallery of important and iridescent rocks the Jurassic spider the mastodon marginalized birds of New York City, taxidermied dove, sparrow & starling     not lifting a hand to stop her   eyelashes winging open as she looked   at the scar the eye of the hawk turning              Copyright © 2016 J. Mae Barizo. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “Observing an object or action exposed, something that is usually hidden, feels like a violation. The vast diorama rooms of the Natural History Museum are dark, inhibited. I wanted to see what a camera sees, the lens on someone I love, the starkness of the diorama suddenly oscillating between what is real and artificial, violent and tender.” —J. Mae Barizo   J. Mae Barizo is the author of The Cumulus Effect (Four Way Books, 2015). She lives in New York City. Poetry by Barizo   The Cumulus Effect (Four Way Books, 2015) "Cut Lilies" by Noah Warren "The Cry" by Paisley Rekdal "Ceremonial" by Eduardo C. Corral Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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