In the middle of a frenzy of errands, I dashed into the University Bookstore to eye the literary magazines and was delighted to see the new issue of the New Orleans Review, which includes poems by Carl Phillips, Sherman Alexie, Tess Gallagher, and myself, among others.

My poem in this issue, “The Smallest Working Pieces” (reprinted below), is also the title poem of my newest chapbook, forthcoming this fall from Toadlily Press. It’s always a strange and wonderful experience to see your work in print–something that started out as scratches in a notebook bound alongside other works of the best words in the best order.

I also have two poems in the current issue of Columbia, and poems slated for the fall issue of Cincinnati Review, the winter issue of Prairie Schooner and an upcoming issue of Nimrod.

___________

The Smallest Working Pieces

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

When my brother wanders home, we know
his figure, but we cannot yet tell
whether he is a bird wing or bone, many
hollow pieces, or one fallow stem-

This man could be water
in a glass nearly empty, he could
be evaporation itself, working upwards,
perfecting the trick of removing himself.

He could be a leaf
that papers and curls when the wind
massages him, a leaf that waits and waits
for autumn to singe, then release him.

This brother could be a stalk
of corn, or the husk, each ear deaf
to the world’s whispering. And I can’t
even begin to imagine how many

fields of ears are not listening.