NEW INTELLIGENCE ~

1
   


Stars

are the campfires

of exiles.


 
Language exists

to pull things

close.

 


*

 

Stop that!

 
Communications

are being monitored.

 

Collusion is forbidden.

 

Humanity

will be punished

 

with the profusion

of new jargons.

 

2

 

Inverted glass,

a white cup

invents the underworld.

 


*

 

Fog thins

to chiffon,

 

nylon,

 

Easter.

 


*

 

In the universe next door,

I'm gone

 

and the shadows

of the leaves

 

of the elm I had pulled down

 

still make a fuss

over the earth.



 
____________________



 
 RAE ARMANTROUT
just saying
Wesleyan University Press 2013

INSTEAD ~









1


To each his own

severance package



The Inca

hacked large stones

into the shapes of

nearby peaks.






2


The eerie thing

is that ghosts don't exist.



Rows

of clear droplets

hang from stripped twigs



instead.





3


Pain brings attention

to herself.



Spine on Fire!

Trail Blazer!

(Thinks she's hot.)



Out here

slim trunks bend

every which



_________________________

RAE ARMANTROUT
just saying
Wesleyan University Press 2013

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER ~

Muhammad Ali