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Fiduciary

By Randall Mann Randall Mann

the relationship between

blackbird and fencepost, between

the cow and its egret, the field

and wildflowers overrunning the field—

so little depends upon their trust.

Here, in God we trust

to keep our cash and thoughts in line—

in the sky, an unexplained white line

could be the first of many omens.

But this is no country for omens,

the line as chalky as the moon,

bleak and useless as the moon

now rising like a breath of cold air . . .

There is gullibility in the air.

Source: Poetry (May 2002).

Biography

Randall Mann’s poems are often set within the landscape of Florida or California. Influenced by Philip Larkin, Elizabeth Bishop, and Donald Justice, Mann’s poetry—at once vulnerable, unflinching, and brave in its ambivalence—explores themes of loss, attraction, brutality, and expectation. Of his preference for working in form, Mann says, “Form helps me approach more comfortably the personal, helps me harden argument.”

Mann is . . .

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