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Sunday, January 08, 2017

The Sunday Poet: Zachary Bos

Poet Zachary Bos
"Zachary Bos studied poetry in the graduate creative writing program at Boston University. He is editor of nerobooks.org. 'Conscious Explanations' by Mark Schorr was the first book published by his Pen & Anvil Press."


Lascaux Massachusetts

                i.m. Mark Schorr

Now look with me away from this screen where
I have just read my friend this morning died.
Let us look through this window, through the air
that carries the scent of marsh mud and salt
as it combs across the marsh at low tide.
We are high here, and on an upper floor,
and down away from us the rows of hills
melt into the distance, becoming more

soft and gray the farther away they are.
Fog softens them too, removes their features.
The winter rain rubs them smooth. All nature
winds itself down as it moves. Years of rain
wash the gilding from the grooves of the names
carved into the stone of our monuments.
What we leave out gets lost, erodes away
and decays. What does remains are stories.

Their gold is renewed with each retelling.
They are kept safe in the confines of all
we sing or say with sincere meaning. They
are beyond the reach of rust, just as safe
as the dancing aurochsen breathed upon
the caverock walls by those ancient painters
who knew we must keep inside what we want
to save from weather and oblivion.

                                                [ January 3, 2017 ]

1 comment:

  1. I like how the 3rd stanza falls into decasyllabics as the poem starts to become self-referential of its purpose and mechanisms. I'll have to read it again, a wonderful tribute.

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