"Adjacent, Against, Upon" by Rick Barot

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 7, 2019   Adjacent, Against, Upon   Rick Barot

—after Michael Heizer I may be looking at the set of boulders that is now in front of me, but it is you I am addressing. You are near or you are far, depending on the accuracy of the words I have chosen. When my teacher told me to use this instead of the, she was talking about the range between the intimate and the conventional. The gray cluster is radiant, but it is a melancholy radiance. To describe it only seems to lean away from what I intend. Maybe, then, touch is a better way of explaining the pleasure of that encounter: the surprise and familiarity of the plant that you brush past in the dark of your own house. Or maybe the always-new logic of a dream is closer to the truth: the falling that takes place in a place where there is no ground. The boulders are there for me, an arrangement and its warren of rooms. One door opening to foggy roses. Another one opening to a dawn that is the color of tea. Surely there will always be new language to tell you who I am, imagination rousing out of idleness into urgency, reaching now towards you. I keep remembering my teacher and she is an image of joy, the small and wordless music of her silver bangles. This over the. One of the rules for writing the poems of a lonely person.            Copyright © 2019 Rick Barot. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 7, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets. About This Poem   "'Adjacent, Against, Upon' is part of a series of poems that interacts with pieces of Michael Heizer's work. The actual installation of 'Adjacent, Against, Upon' consists of three boulders positioned in ways that illustrate the three words of the title. The installation can be visited at Myrtle Edwards Park in Seattle; it was first installed there in 1976. These days, there's graffiti on the bases of the sculptures and kids play on the boulders. In that way, the installation feels monumental and intimate at the same time.  My poem is an attempt at evoking some of that intimacy." —Rick Barot   Rick Barot is the author of four poetry collections, including The Galleons, forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in 2020, and Chord (Sarabande Books, 2015). He directs The Rainier Writing Workshop, the low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University. He lives in Tacoma, Washington. Photo Credit: Rachel McCauley Poetry by Barot   Chord (Sarabande Books, 2015) "From the language of ash" by Monica Hand "Hot Springs" by Davis McCombs from "EXAQUA [Oh, that's what I was]" by Jan-Henry Gray May Guest Editor: Victoria Chang   Thanks to Victoria Chang, author of Barbie Chang (Copper Canyon Press, 2017), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Chang about her curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year. 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