The Burden by Sara Nicholson

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 9, 2016   The Burden   Sara Nicholson

I don’t know the Latin names of flowers. I know that there are cities wherein stars   Will labor to appear in bursts of as Or under, will command the color green   To work with from or of or in in staves And paragraphs, will demarcate the limits   Of the sky. I recognize the colors Of acacia from paintings and poems.   I know a high wind carries rhyme across The ocean. That smoke, it coaxes signals   From the fire. What words you speak I too Have spoken of: of of, the turning back,   The opening beyond and up above us, The movement forward and the reasoning   Behind. I know that the horizon falls out Of perspective, that toward music the sea   Will harken back and find in language No beauty save impermanence, a minor awe.            Copyright © 2016 Sara Nicholson. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “A creative writing teacher once told me that I didn’t know how to use prepositions. I’m still not sure I’ve mastered them. Not knowing’s not exactly a burden I carry along with or inside or behind me. Instead, I think of it as my refrain.” —Sara Nicholson   Sara Nicholson is the author of What the Lyric Is (The Song Cave, 2016). She lives in West Fork, Arkansas. Poetry by Nicholson   What the Lyric Is (The Song Cave, 2016) "Reading to My Father" by Jorie Graham "The Sadness of Clothes" by Emily Fragos "Nohemi — a Song for Paris" by Juan Felipe Herrera Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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