Current Issue: Fall/Winter 2010

Pantoum On Art  
Bruce Covey

Every time I put my hands in my pockets I find
A haze of tulip petals & the hollow slap of air conditioning
She winds her way back to my studio
What's the name of that park?

 A haze of tulip petals & the hollow slap of air conditioning
A baffling chain that never seems to finish
What's the name of that park?
The popular image is part of my landscape

 A baffling chain that never seems to finish
There's something terribly brittle about it
The popular image is part of my landscape
In other words, we look at that silver can

 There's something terribly brittle about it.
Between containment & scattering, a fundamental process
In other words, we look at that silver can
The randomness kind of zeroing in

 Between containment & scattering, a fundamental process
As threatening and insistent as possible
The randomness kind of zeroing in
Time battering the surface of earth?

 As threatening and insistent as possible
She winds her way back to my studio
Time batters the surface of earth
Every time I put my hands in my pockets I find

 

Bruce Coveyis the author of four books of poetry, including, most recently, Glass Is Really a Liquid (2010) and Elapsing Speedway Organism (2006) from No Tell Books.  He lives in Atlanta, GA, where he teaches at Emory University, edits Coconut Poetry, and curates the "What's New in Poetry" reading series.  His fifth book, Reveal, will appear in 2011 from Black Radish.