O Heart Uncovered

By Joseph Ceravolo 1934–1988 Joseph Ceravolo

We lived in province snow range

and something that we uncover

is like living

in one Arizona room

when we discover all we owe

to darkness

we never really know.

Tomorrow is the national holiday for independence—

no more left.

For the first time

we see the mountains

with snow on them pulling away

from the mountains and clouds.

“O Heart Uncovered” from The Green Lake is Awake: Selected Poems. Copyright © 1994 by the estate of Joseph Ceravolo. Used with the permission of Coffee House Press, www.coffeehousepress.org

Source: The Green Lake is Awake: Selected Poems (Coffee House Press, 1994)

Biography

A poet sometimes associated with the New York School of poets, Joseph Ceravolo began writing poems in 1957 while completing his Army service in Germany. In 1959, Ceravolo earned a degree in civil engineering from the City College of New York and enrolled in Kenneth Koch’s poetry workshop at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan. The New York–born son of Italian immigrants, Ceravolo died at age 54 after publishing . . .

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