Icarian Positions

There is a counterpoint of violence to the invocations of eros in the poetry of Ocean Vuong. Emblematic is the kneeling figure which recurs through Night Sky with Exit Wounds.

Don't worry. Your father is only your father
until one of you forgets. Like how the spine
won't remember its wings
no matter how many times our knees
kiss the pavement.

"Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong"


               Instead, the year begins
with my knees
               scraping hardwood
another man leaving
               into my throat. Fresh snow

"Devotion"

These read like the pain of patella fractures compounded by an equivalent mesmerization with anatomy. Mind and body dislocated.

And so for day 1730
08.09.2011