oblivion ina Siberian winter.the ice :: glass.I see everythingeverything sees.a mammal rouses at the endof the Holocene.its tongue pressesto the roofof its mouth and clicks.eve beheaded.how lapsed grief is,a circle a circlenever escaped.I go to no one,dark space, twilitspeaking to no one.I travel to the coast,to an amphitheater of grayness.wavescome ontothe crag, white-bluespittle.the venue of execution.teeth glide.the sea is no seaa mirror.futures refracting in the rip.I catch.I incise.I keen. somethingwill die.by tuesday I’ll beyet another homunculus,another ragdoll.time topographical in its rise and fall.cold wind. valley, valley.sand dunes in exodus,shifting in a dream.lavender lightlittle lit like I goto the shore an xat the lungsof sex and vexedand exhalation.an egret burnsmanna. futures griton my palate.salt sparks.is desire sight.is suggestion.another way to kill.what waves.every tongue a clicka prophecy.the body is beautiful work.I am never going to benever.all I am is happening.be hold, I said.be held.
Blue Harp
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Copyright © 2024 by Temperance Aghamohammadi.
First published in New England Review Issue 45.3, September 16, 2024.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Temperance Aghamohammadi is an Acolyte of the Exquisite. An Iranian-American poet, medium, and critic, her work has appeared or is forthcoming in New England Review, Passages North, The Kenyon Review, Annulet, The Hopkins Review, and elsewhere. Hailing from the Northeast, she currently haunts the Midwest.
45.3
Middlebury, Vermont
Middlebury College
Editor
Carolyn Kuebler
Managing Editor
Leslie Sainz
Poetry Editor
Jennifer Chang
By publishing new fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that is both challenging and inviting, New England Review encourages artistic exchange and thought-provoking innovation, providing publishing opportunities for writers at all stages in their careers. The selection of writings in each issue presents a broad spectrum of viewpoints and genres, including traditional and experimental fiction, long and short poems, translations, criticism, letters from abroad, reviews in arts and literature, and rediscoveries. New England Review exists in a place apart from mass culture, where speed and information overload are the norm. At NER, serious writing is given serious attention, from the painstaking selection process through careful editing and publication, where finally the writer’s words meet up with a curious and dedicated readership.
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