Tuesday poem #415 : Barry Schwabsky : Notes Toward a Code of Best Practice

 

Glancing toward the sources of wisdom
I could just glimpse the back of my mind
drifting off into the distance
maybe catch it on its way back around

it was only then
your past lost its predictability
darkness opened onto a wet body
I’m taking in later for repairs

the skin of a human being like that of a ripe fruit
when pierced
leaks saturated sweetness 

whose presence cohabits with D—th
and feeds you enough words to talk with
to update our situation with reckless accuracy

 

 

Barry Schwabsky is art critic for The Nation and co-editor of international reviews for Artforum. He has published three books of poetry and several chapbooks as well as several books of art criticism. His Reader's Diary is published weekly at Tourniquet Review and his new collection of poetry will be published by Black Square Editions, New York, in 2021.

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan