Poetry
The Shark and the Seagull
Translated by Mary Ann Caws
Finally I catch sight of the sea in its triple harmony, the sea whose crescent slices into the dynasty of absurd griefs, the great preserver of wild birds, the sea as credulous as a bindweed.
When I say: I have lifted the law, I have gone past morality, I have buckled my heart, it isn’t to claim I am right before this scale of emptiness whose sound extends its palm beyond my conviction . But nothing of what has seen me live and act until now is around to bear witness. My shoulder may slumber, my youth may rush in. From that alone wealth immediate and workable should be drawn.
So there’s one pure day in the year, one day that furrows its marvelous balcony in the foam of the sea, one day rising as high as the eyes to crown noontime. Yesterday nobility was wasteland, the branch was far from its buds. The shark and the seagull did not converse.
Oh rainbow of this grinding shore, bring the ship close to its hope. Make every supposed goal find some new innocence, a feverish forwardness for those who are stumbling in the heaviness of morning.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds: Surviving Active Shooter Custer
By Alan GilbertJUL-AUG 2019 | ArtSeen
At this point it may be obvious to say that history is usually written by the victors, but other histories are also always being composed, and there are innumerable forms this writing can take. During the past forty years, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne/Arapaho) has created work addressing the ignored and suppressed histories of Native people in North America.
Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds: Standing Rock Awakens the World
By Susan HarrisFEB 2020 | ArtSeen
His artworks create opportunities for contemplation, reassessment and, hopefully, healing for Native and non-Native people alike.
Shark Fins
by Enrique Serpa, translated from the Spanish by Andrew FeldmanAPRIL 2020 | Fiction
Within the waters of his sleep, Felipe had the vague sensation that the sound of his alarm pursued him like a determined fish. Half-awake, he hardly noticed when his wife beside him turned over in bed. Then he opened his eyes. And when he saw a ray of light falling like a twine of gold from a thin gap along the front door, he jumped up, bare feet on the ground.
Sight Lines
OCT 2019 | Books
Sze is a dynamic writer whose vision and aesthetic evolve as he evolves. Although his poems are still built around vivid, often startling juxtapositions, the nature of those juxtapositions, as well as the intent behind them, has changed.
