Erstwhile Harbinger Auspices

By Matthew Zapruder b. 1967 Matthew Zapruder

Erstwhile means long time gone.

A harbinger is sent before to help,

and also a sign of things

to come. Like this blue

stapler I bought at Staples.

Did you know in ancient Rome

priests called augurs studied

the future by carefully watching

whether birds were flying

together or alone, making what

honking or beeping noises

in what directions? It was called

the auspices. The air

was thus a huge announcement.

Today it’s completely

transparent, a vase. Inside it

flowers flower. Thus

a little death scent. I have

no master but always wonder,

what is making my master sad?

Maybe I do not know him.

This morning I made extra coffee

for the beloved and covered

the cup with a saucer. Skeleton

I thought, and stay

very still, whatever it was

will soon pass by and be gone.

Matthew Zapruder, “Erstwhile Harbinger Auspices” from Come on All You Ghosts. Copyright © 2010 by Matthew Zapruder. Reprinted by permission of Copper Canyon Press.

Source: Come on All You Ghosts (Copper Canyon Press, 2010)

Biography

Poet and editor Matthew Zapruder was born in Washington, DC. He earned a BA in Russian literature at Amherst College, an MA in Slavic languages and literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and an MFA in poetry at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Zapruder’s poems employ nuanced, conversational syntax to engage themes of grief, perception, and logic. As Dana Jennings noted in the New York Times, Zapruder . . .

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