This week’s poem, “Denial”, will be in my upcoming book The Anonymity of Waiting. I don’t want to say much about it because I’m curious to see what readers think it’s about. In some degree, poetry is always about balancing transparency with ambiguity. Poems fall all along this continuum, with some being explicit and others incomprehensible. I can’t say one end of the spectrum is best because I have favorite poems at both ends and throughout the middle.
Wherever “Denial” lands on the spectrum of clarity, I hope readers find it artful and enjoy reading it. Comment if you’d like to share what you think it’s about!
Denial
The rooster’s serrated scream
guts the clouds,
which hemorrhage sunrise
on a world wrapped in shadow
lying
there, as if it never knew the sun,
revolved around it,
or danced across the abyss
in the embrace of its rays.
The sun is an eye
no one can look into.
Rolling away,
the clouds shrink and shed bitter
rain beneath hunched,
gray billows.
A Wandering Minstrel 