Simon Perchik
*
And the Earth leans against you
from inside, starts its turn
hand over hand —you empty each box
slowly, smoothing the sides
then once it’s dark
begin to dig for air
and wait for the corner
half cardboard, half taking you in
and no one home though here you are
opening a door the way every star
smells from dying winds and grass
—you unpack, thinner and thinner
as if the air is losing heart
bending its climb and doors
no longer by the hundreds.
Simon Perchik is an attorney whose poems have appeared in Partisan Review, The Nation, Poetry, The New Yorker, and elsewhere. His most recent collection is Almost Rain, published by River Otter Press (2013). For more information,including free e-books, his essay titled “Magic, Illusion and Other Realities” please visit his website at www.simonperchik.com.
What are some things you enjoyed about your triptych experience? the poem came into being when the images from a photograph from the Time/Life series “Documentary Photography” was confronted (and resolved) with a contradictory idea (or image) from mythology or science. A more detailed answer can be found in an essay I wrote to answer your exact question: Magic, illusion and Other Realites.
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
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Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again March 15, 2023. Submit here.
Upcoming
09/09 • Rae Gourmand
09/16 • TBD
09/23 • TBD
09/30 • TBD