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3 poems by Kyle Harvey

Kyle Harvey

berthusen trail -- denise enck
image credit: dre

The World Beyond the Poem

for Neeli Cherkovski

The pumpkins are
almost big enough

to carve
to let rot

on the front porch
the death of it

the candle wax
& mold of it

the candle wax of death
I’ll figure it out

but not right now
how to carry it

this sadness
this rotting smile

the stench of it
inside the mask

I’ll figure it out
but not right now

I want to be a dead poet
but not right now

I want to drink espresso
with Neeli Cherkovski

late nights at
the immortal cafe

smoke cigarettes
with Jack Mueller

I want to be a dead poet
but not right now

I’ll figure it out
I hope

I’ve been there before
to Hope

a small town on I29
I’ve been there before

I’ll figure it out
how to carry it

this sadness
this

sadness
candle wax of death

this jack-o-lantern’s
soft dull teeth

the poem it reads
the sadness of it

slurred
the poem

rotten
with reason

the world beyond
the poem

always expanding

Jack, I don’t know what to say.

Yesterday
there was an ocean. Now it’s gone.

Every house is filled with years,
every year filled with sadness.

We light no small fire to keep
our pipes from freezing.

We sing no insignificant song
to keep our hearts thawed.

Let me fall asleep in this poem.
Let me wake from this dream
& into another.

in memory of Jack Mueller (1942-2017)

To be carried like time across lapping waves

To wash upon some distant shore

but a chance inside someone else’s dream—

whose toes are those?
Whose knees are these?
Pardon me miss,
whose nose is this?

To be a roll of Mallarmé’s dice — to be a roll of your own.

after Lance Larsen
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Kyle Harvey

Kyle Harvey is the author of the poetry collection Hyacinth (Lithic Press 2013), a finalist for the Colorado Book Award, and winner of the Mark Fischer Poetry Prize. His work has appeared in American Life in Poetry, Dirty Chai, Entropy, Heavy Feather Review, HOUSEGUEST, Metatron, Pilgrimage, Pith, SHAMPOO, Think Journal, The Wallace Stevens Journal, and elsewhere. He has published the two serial poems July and Farewell Materials (Lithic Press), and a package of broadsides titled The Alphabet’s Book of Colors (Reality Beach).

He is at work on a documentary about Jack Mueller called Portolano and a manuscript titled The Alphabet That Never Recovers. He lives with his wife and children in Fruita, Colorado, where he designs books for Lithic Press.

Author: Kyle Harvey Tags: Neeli Cherkovski, poetry Category: Poetry November 17, 2017

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Comments

  1. Sam Silva says

    November 18, 2017 at 11:30 pm

    i like these….take them to heart

    Reply

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Empty Mirror

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine that publishes new work each Friday.

Each week EM features several poems each by one or two poets; reviews; critical essays; visual art; and personal essays.

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