What might be said
to disport itself
along the cinderblock
in leaves.
*
What I write
I write instead
of ivy.
*
Green snouts
in evidence or—
more
to the point—
insolent
and tense.
*
What might be said
to writhe
professionally
as the days
nod and wink.
Source: Poetry (January 2011).
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This poem originally appeared in the January 2011 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 . . .
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