Poof! by Mark Irwin

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend November 26, 2014   Poof!   Mark Irwin

A shark swims into the bay, swirls, and then rises with the ugly grin of             millennia.   A match flame to a cigar, years later a campfire, and long after a house             on fire.   Love—to forget language and act on instinct, its indestructible form.   —Something written on a piece of paper after an astonishing event.                    That paper found a long time later.   I am, I am, she said, licking a grape Popsicle in July. Make it last,             he said right after.   It seemed as though she had leapt toward her own cremation.   A few books shining like the wood of trees. —Ones that I’ve climbed                    or held.            Copyright © 2014 by Mark Irwin. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “It’s always difficult to reconcile the fact that the tissue of words can outlast a human life, or that the ‘ugly grin’ of one predator is that of all predators. Or that the past, present, and future are all one time. Or that books were once trees.” —Mark Irwin   Mark Irwin’s seventh collection of poetry is Large White House Speaking (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2013). He teaches in the Creative Writing & Literature Program at the University of Southern California and splits his time between Los Angeles and Colorado. Most Recent Book by Irwin   Large White House Speaking  (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2013) "Anxieties" by Donna Masini "Series" by Geoffrey G. O'Brien "What God Knew" by Marianne Boruch Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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