What Counts What Counts
First breath, best breath. I don’t mean anything by that. Shale over shale. I concentrate on acts to keep from repeating words in my head. I sit up and copy them in bed. “So, so gl…
Jul 13, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Rae Armantrout
Return Return
1 Better to collect miniature trolls beside toy bridges and arrange them on doilies. Best we commemorate old fears until our heads are full lest we trump up some flesh and blood de…
Dec 1, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Rae Armantrout
My Erasures My Erasures
My erasures were featured. * I collected debris to sell as crash art, crush porn. * “Say goodbye to Lonesome George,” the last Galapagos tortoise. * I was a pushover for the laws o…
Apr 7, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Rae Armantrout
Holiday Holiday
The ad for the American moment says, “Make today famous.” (That little nobody!) Bury her under the foundation. Rome did. Have her wear that seasonal affective collapse get up. Keep an eye- in-the-sky on it
Aug 29, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Rae Armantrout
Treatment Treatment
The relationship between a handsome young broker and a lovely young curator is in trouble. Before they can marry, he must come to tolerate, then feel guarded affection for a good natured buffoon who populates dioramas with stuffed mouse couples in period dress, then for an assortment of others, some less likeable, who also take passionate interest in an activity that generates no profit
Sep 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Rae Armantrout
Three Poems by Rae Armantrout Three Poems by Rae Armantrout
"Framing," "Soft Money," "Accounts"
Aug 29, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Rae Armantrout
Midst Midst
We're all saying the same thing now, scolding the same shadow, not in harmony, but in sync or by turns. Singing that bar about the flock taking off "as if" it were one body— as if this was one body— and who could be listening?
Sep 15, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Rae Armantrout
Answer Answer
a moment of stillness, demanding an answer. When does a moment end? * Starbucks prayer, "Make morning good again." * Leaf shadows on pavement: word meaning to slide carelessly, repeatedly, to absentmindedly caress. * For I so loved the world that I set up my only son to be arrested.
Dec 17, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Rae Armantrout