An ars poetica
Iambic lines drafted in silt
are revised when glaciers melt
so verses ending in heroic couplet
are more epigram than sonnet.
Revised when glaciers melt,
continents submit to a warning.
The land is more epigram than sonnet
—no—more erasure than given form.
As continents admit the warming,
the coasts ebb and go.
Erasure gives them form.
Plastic adds a climax of metaphor.
The coasts ebb and forgo
iambic lines drafted in silt.
Plastic adds a climate of metaphor
that upends the couplet heroic.
Notes: This piece is part of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize portfolio in the October 2023 issue.
Source: Poetry (October 2023)
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