on the death of a.r. ammons
*
smoke oiling the night’s
parasite blade
each tree / is an Athlete
blue staff
muscle a bent nail plays
*
the shattered evergreens
my greatest patience
to perform a speech of his person—
a glass act
(the terrorist snow dissents)
a deer’s breath led me to this quiet
prophecy, you sieve, eclipse
of the breath I wanted, harvester—
at ramah
(in memory of J. Thermon Nall)
a long held note, Alabama dusk.
something to read about,
in a dim garden, say. Overhead
the whirling satellites of thorn—
G.C. Waldrep’s most recent books are a long poem, Testament (BOA Editions, 2015), and a chapbook, Susquehanna (Omnidawn, 2013). With Joshua Corey he edited The Arcadia Project: North American Postmodern Pastoral (Ahsahta, 2012). His new collection, feast gently, is due out from Tupelo Press in May 2018. He lives in Lewisburg, Pa., where he teaches at Bucknell University, edits the journal West Branch, and serves as Editor-at-Large for The Kenyon Review.