Death and the City by Rowan Ricardo Phillips

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend October 28, 2015   Death and the City   Rowan Ricardo Phillips

Yesterday’s newspaper becomes last week’s Newspapers spread out like a hand-held fan In front of the face of the apartment Door. A dog does the Argos-thing inside, Waiting beside O as though his body Is but an Ithaca waiting the soul’s Return. Neil the Super will soon come up With the key but only in time to find Doreen, the on-the-down-low-friend-with-perks, There already, kneeling between the two, Stroking the hair of both O and the dog, Wondering who had been walking the dog.            Copyright © 2015 by Rowan Ricardo Phillips. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “Proximity and indifference are the two sides of the murky coin that is city life. And whether it feels precious or cheap (may it always feel the former), life always holds itself up to the mind’s glare. Sometimes I want to look away, but I never look away.” —Rowan Ricardo Phillips   Rowan Ricardo Phillips is the author of Heaven (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), which was longlisted for the 2015 National Book Award. He lives in New York City.   Photo credit: Sue Kwon Poetry by Phillips   Heaven (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015) "We Used to Have Parties" by Justin Marks "The Barcelona Inside Me" by Robin Becker "Sunset Park" by Patrick Phillips Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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