The palm tree exposes
a large number
of loose, carved spines
out of pleasure?
Boredom?
*
To start over
in the carved moment
is to take cover.
*
A solid short woman
in a pink wool suit
proceeds—
anxiously? doggedly?
alone
up a sidewalk
laid down for her.
(We don’t believe it.)
*
There are two kinds
of choices,
pirate sources say:
unconscious
and desperate.
Source: Poetry (June 2009).
MORE FROM THIS ISSUE
This poem originally appeared in the June 2009 issue of Poetry magazine
Rae Armantrout, one of the founding members of the West Coast group of Language poets, stands apart from other Language poets in her lyrical voice and her commitment to the interior and the domestic. Her short-lined poems are often concerned with dismantling conventions of memory, pop culture, science, and mothering, and these unsparing interrogations are often streaked with wit. “You can hold the various elements of my poems in . . .
Continue reading this biography