{"id":16266,"date":"2021-03-16T20:00:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T00:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=16266"},"modified":"2021-03-16T19:21:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T23:21:04","slug":"the-poetry-corner-16-march-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2021\/03\/16\/the-poetry-corner-16-march-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"The Poetry Corner – 16 March 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

[To read an introduction to this column, please see the first paragraph of the previous post <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This week I will simply share two poems from one of my favorite contemporary poets, Solmaz Sharif. Much of her work can be found online, but these two poems feel similar to me and are both striking in many ways. Here they are below:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He, Too<\/em><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Returning to the US, he asks<\/p>\n

my occupation. Teacher.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What do you teach?<\/em><\/p>\n

Poetry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hate poetry<\/em>, the officer says,<\/p>\n

I only like writing<\/em><\/p>\n

where you can make an argument.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anything he asks, I must answer.<\/p>\n

This he likes, too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t tell him<\/p>\n

he will be in a poem<\/p>\n

where the argument will be<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

anti-American.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I place him here, puffy,<\/p>\n

pink, ringed in plexi, pleased<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

with his own wit<\/p>\n

and spittle. Saving the argument<\/p>\n

I am let in<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am let in until<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Lanat Abad \/ The Place of the Damned<\/em><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

this mangy plot where<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

by now<\/p>\n

only mothers still come,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

only mothers guard the nameless plots<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  • <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    and then sparingly<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    • <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Peepholes burnt through the metal doors<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      of their solitary cells,<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

        \n
      • <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

         <\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        just large enough<\/p>\n

        for three fingers to curl out<\/p>\n

        for a lemon to pass through<\/p>\n

        for an ear to be held against<\/p>\n

        for one eye then the other<\/p>\n

        to regard the hallway<\/p>\n

        to regard the cell and inmate<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

          \n
        • <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

           <\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          peepholes without a lens<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          so when the guard comes to inspect me,<\/p>\n

          I inspect him.<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          Touch me,<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

            \n
          • <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

             <\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            And through that opening<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            I did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            [To read an introduction to this column, please see the first paragraph of the previous post here]   This week I will simply share two poems from one of my favorite contemporary poets, Solmaz Sharif. Much of her work can be found online, but these two poems feel similar to me and are both striking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2238,"featured_media":16267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1334],"tags":[1241,1700,1221,265,281,1574,15,1703,1680,1701,1702,420],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16266"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16270,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16266\/revisions\/16270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}