Matthew Rohrer
Collage
Claire Anna Baker "Wick"
Perfect day
for museum-going
even a thing
all small and sad
in a clean room
can be a record
from the dream
of life. But I sit
lusting for the flowers
in a drizzle.
Afternoon rises
to the swelling
of the voiceful sea.
I’d rather learn
from one bird
how to move through
wet streets.
Collage
In the village
of San Vincente
it’s not that I don’t know
the fashions, but
the blossoms they make
no reply. In a shower
of sunlight the moon
is where it always is.
I spent the last 5 years
in the sweetest of jails
like the duckweed, forever
drifting. Two hours
in the late morning
I sit with the other
villagers washing
our clothes.
But she, whose aspect
I find imagined here
in her marvelous orange
coat, might as well
have flown—circling
and circling, a bird
flies into the trees
with a shrill cry.
Bio
Matthew Rohrer is the author of 7 books of poems, most recently DESTROYER AND PRESERVER, published by Wave Books. Recently he has participated in residencies/ performances at the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) and the Henry Art Gallery (Seattle).