Author Bio
PrintThoughts of Gorky, Looking into Vermont Woods, at Tinling’s, October 3, 2004
by Clayton Eshleman
Photograph ©Brian Molyneaux (2004).One stands on a creaking,
with October leaves
like cobra hoods
waltzing, wattled
parasols.
My eyes focus latrines—
a putrification is under way.
Warm bath of heart re-obtained,
to inhale, to be in the columnar density of
a warming that now
takes on global contours.
Leaves as reefs
birch-white with amber pink
lime-tinted
patches,
Atlas still
the molten under-yolk,
the sphincter of mayhem
Gorky breathed in
staring at gnats adrift,
grass entanglements,
entry
an ever-exiting bruise,
burst
flagellation of a pyre
drummed on by ants
possessed in elfin serenade.
Cockscomb and marigold are
thistled in
a graphite legacy
recalling Crane at Melville’s grave.
Monody of a line
picked up at Pech Merle.
The supped russet totality
eye-needled through.
About the Author
Clayton Eshleman is a poet, translator, and educator. He has founded and edited two seminal literary journals, Caterpillar and Sulfur, published twelve books of original poetry, two volumes of essays, and nine volumes of translations. He was the recipient of the National Book Award in 1979 for his co-translation of Caesar Vallejo's Complete Posthumous Poetry. His most recent book, Conductors of the Pit, is forthcoming from Soft Skull Press.
