Infinitive

Joan Naviyuk Kane

There is nothing sentimentalin this forest. A squall, birchboughs sibilant. Some hearthupwind glut with wet wood.You, taken with a fine polish,should have wed the womanyou would have loved: nothingin this forest. Sentimental,I dwelt once beneath a linden treesprung up between leaves of mica,scaffolds, lanes of passing traffic.Its redolence stifling and flawless,conditional. I do not miss it.Torn from a tangled understoryunderfoot, a scud of clubmossspores blown burns rapid, right.

Feature Date

Series

Selected By

Share This Poem

Print This Poem

Headshot of Joan Naviyuk Kane 2025

Joan Naviyuk Kane is Inupiaq with family from Ugiuvak and Qawiaraq. A 2025 United States Artist Fellow, she is the author and editor of many books of poetry and prose. She raises her children in Oregon, where she is an Associate Professor at Reed College.

Cover of Ex Machina by Joan Naviyuk Kane

Cambridge, Massachusetts

“‘What could not be vulnerable in such changing / light?’ asks Joan Naviyuk Kane's impeccable chapbook Ex Machina. The poems here are unsentimental and unsparing; they tell stories of theft, erosion, and silencing, and they detail the depths of connection across time and space and the wish ‘for the sorrow to become something islandic.’ These new poems of brutal insight and electric lexicon further cement Kane's status as one of the most important poets writing today.”
— Natalie Shapero

Poetry Daily Depends on You

With your support, we make reading the best contemporary poetry a treasured daily experience. Consider a contribution today.