Riptide

Riptide

By Norma Cole b. 1945 Norma Cole

                          There’s a shadow over the city
             the light, as usual, framing and erasing
 
Just say you
dream fires each
night smoothing each
collapsing page from
 
the throat talking
in a series
of measures in
the high desert
 
the perfect life
in a series
of measured gestures
an invitation to
 
see the world
from a bridge
that burns in
the next night

Norma Cole, "Riptide" from Where Shadows Will, City Lights Spotlight No. 1. Copyright © 2009 by Norma Cole.  Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books.

Source: Where Shadows Will (City Lights Books, 2009)

back to top

RELATED CONTENT

Discover this poem’s context and related poetry, articles, and media.

Poet Norma Cole b. 1945

POET’S REGION U.S., Western

Subjects Nature, Landscapes & Pastorals, Arts & Sciences, Language & Linguistics, Social Commentaries

Poetic Terms Free Verse

More about this poem

Biography

Norma Cole is a poet, painter, and translator. She was born in Toronto, Canada, and attended the University of Toronto for her BA in Modern Languages and MA in French. Her translation works include Danielle Collobert’s Journals (1989), Anne Portugal’s Nude (2001), and Fouad Gabriel Naffah’s The Spirit God and the Properities Of Nitrogen (2004). She has also edited and translated Crosscut Universe: Writing on Writing from France . . .

Continue reading this biography

back to top

Poems by Norma Cole

back to top

Poem Categorization

SUBJECT Nature, Landscapes & Pastorals, Arts & Sciences, Language & Linguistics, Social Commentaries

POET’S REGION U.S., Western

Poetic Terms Free Verse

If you disagree with this poem's categorization, make a suggestion.

back to top

Related

Audio

Report a problem with this poem

Originally appeared in Poetry magazine.

This poem has learning resources.

This poem is good for children.

This poem has related video.

This poem has related audio.