The Hang

It’s important to articulate
the original,

hurtful,
blurred composite.

Frames should be viewed
sequentially,

in time—
gaps

in the clouds.

Blue shapes

on their way

somewhere?

The slow parade.

It’s possible
to get the hang.  

Rae Armantrout is a professor of writing in the literature department at the University of California at San Diego. She is the author of ten books of poetry, including Versed (Wesleyan 2009), a finalist for the National Book Award. She has been published in many anthologies, including The Oxford Book of American Poetry and numerous Best American Poetry selections, and in such magazines as Harper’s, the New Yorker, American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Chicago Review, and the Los Angeles Times Book Review. She has also received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation (2008), the Fund for Poetry (1999 and 1994), and the California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (1989). Her collected prose was published in 2007.