Geography
It's the job of the senses to transition into words.
They tend to be those like: chestnut, cardamom, chalk,
fuck; they can also be names of rivers: Belaya, Ob.

For years the names of rivers have brought us order. A refrain
about moisture, a science of neglect, of language, or a whisper
that speaks the dialect of maps: Mer de Glace, Carpathians,
Cluj-Napoca, Bolechowicka Valley, Wrzeszcz, Wolski Forest,
Lea Street—but there's no order, no restraint, don't bother searching.
Just this: tectonics, geography of what yields to erosion, what
changes state, what finds itself affected, this, right here.

               Hey, look—a hand traces
               circles on skin; bark; fur,
               and never gets enough.


Geografia

Rzeczą zmysłów bywa przechodzenie w słowa.
One bywają jak te: kasztan, kardamon, kreda,
kurwa; bywają też nazwami rzek: Bieła, Ob.

Nazwy rzek od lat przynoszą nam ład. Refren o wilgoci,
naukę o zaniedbanym i o języku, a ten bywa też szeptem,
który posługuje się dialektem map: Mer de Glace, Karpaty,
Kluż-Napoka, Dolina Bolechowicka, Wrzeszcz, Las Wolski,
ulica Lea—nie szukaj, nie ma w tym porządku, umiaru.
To: tektonika, geografia tego, co ulega erozji, tego,
co zmienia stan, też tego, co dotknięte, co tu.

               Ej, patrz—dłoń, która krąży
               wokół skóry; kory; futra,
               i nigdy nie ma dość.
from the journal POETRY NORTHWEST
READ ABOUT TODAY'S POEM
Share Share
Tweet Tweet
Forward Forward
Ocean Vuong & cover of The Emperor of Gladness
"Ocean Vuong is More Than Just a Sad Gay, Asian Poet"

"Vuong’s bibliography, including his celebrated poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds (2016) as well as his debut novel, has consistently engaged with themes of war, trauma, queer identity, and the immigrant experience. His writing is known for its poetic beauty, formal innovation, and unflinching honesty. Yet, this very success and his chosen subject matter have sparked nuanced conversations within the literary world, particularly within the Vietnamese and Vietnamese American, and Asian queer communities."

via JOYSAUCE
READ ALL TODAY'S HEADLINES
Color cover image of Kai Ihns' book, Of
What Sparks Poetry:
Kai Ihns on Building Community


"I think this dispersed but somehow coherent ‘I’ that exists in relation and as a problem of negotiating how one is oriented… I’m interested in this because I do feel like it’s a way poetry can process its world, in this case a world that requires complex negotiations of… realities, and the selves that can exist in them. You have to actively negotiate what you think the ground is, all the time… and that partially determines how you can be in relation."
READ THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
donate
View in browser

You have received this email because you submitted your email address at www.poems.com
If you would like to unsubscribe please click here.

© 2025 Poetry Daily, Poetry Daily, MS 3E4, 4400 University Dr., Fairfax, VA 22030

Design by the Binding Agency