Rachel Zucker

[from The Last Clear Narrative]

LIKE WATER BUT LESS STEADY

The ferrous soil through the low-tide hemline.
Blue out further, under the sky. I would

   follow, but the world cares nothing
     for my wanting. Changes nothing.


                                     (Flowers open and close their faces.)


One wants to see the woman but remembers mainly the
                                                                    pinched-in waist,
                                                                         proportions.




         There and not there.                             . . . ambient . . .


When removed, the body seamless, of-a-piece.
I must be still to feel her—


D. A Powell told me about Rachel Zucker, I bought both of her books, read them and am now reading them again. The final poem in The Last Clear Narrative is, by one measure, a narrative poem about giving birth. In all terms, it is remarkable. Read the poem, titled "HERE HAPPY IS NO PART OF LOVE," at How 2 New Writing.