Re: Happiness, in Pursuit thereof (by C. D. Wright)

Griffin Prize for Excellence In Poetry, The (2001 - 0)

Original Text

C. D. Wright, Rising, Falling, Hovering (Port Townsend, Wash.: Copper Canyon Press, 2008). This poem is reproduced on the Griffin Prize Web Site (from the winning volume on the 2009 International Shortlist).

1It is 2005, just before landfall.

2Here I am, a labyrinth, and I am a mess.

3I am located at the corner of Waterway

4and Bluff. I need your help. You will find me

5to the left of the graveyard, where the trees

6grow especially talkative at night,

7where fog and alcohol rub off the edge.

8We burn to make one another sing;

9to stay the lake that it not boil, earth

10not rock. We are running on Aztec time,

11fifth and final cycle. Eyes switch on/off.

12We would be mercurochrome to one another

13bee balm or chamomile. We should be concrete,

14glass, and spandex. We should be digital or,

15at least, early. Be ivory-billed. Invisible

16except to the most prepared observer.

17We will be stardust. Ancient tailings

18of nothing. Elapsed breath. No,

19we must first be ice. Be nails. Be teeth.

20Be lightning.

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2011