Driving into the country
along the straight track
of a manmade road.
Ahead, a canyon billows
dust-smoke, words
tremble in the lobe,
an old melody
whirs deep in the cortex.
Light rises—or an illusion of it.
Ahead, a field
of cacti wavers—
lingers.
Rusting water silos
with perched crows.
Serpents snaking
somewhere below.
& the carcass of a tanker
emotionlessly reflects
the mountains. Yes,
shade, but where
the underlying body?
& where is that fresh water
we saved for this evening?
Marc Vincenz has published fourteen books of poetry, including more recently, Leaning into the Infinite, The Syndicate of Water & Light, and Here Comes the Nightdust. Vincenz is also a prolific translator and has published ten books of translations, including Unexpected Development by award-winning Swiss poet and novelist Klaus Merz, and which was a finalist for the 2016 Cliff Becker Book Prize in Translation. His work has received fellowships and grants from the Swiss Arts Council, the Literary Colloquium Berlin, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry.
