My Species

By Jane Hirshfield

even

a small purple artichoke

boiled

in its own bittered

and darkening

waters

grows tender,

grows tender and sweet

patience, I think,

my species

keep testing the spiny leaves

the spiny heart

Source: Poetry (January 2015)

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My Species

By Jane Hirshfield

About this Poet

Award-winning poet, essayist, and translator Jane Hirshfield is the author of several collections of verse, including The Beauty (2015), a finalist for the National Book Award; Come, Thief (2011); After (2006); shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot prize; and Given Sugar, Given Salt (2001), a finalist...

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My Species

Poetry and Food

A Sweetening All around Me as It Falls

To Judgment: An Assay

Assay Only Glimpsable for an Instant

To Spareness: An Assay

The Woodpecker Keeps Returning

My Species