Convergence
By Kimiko Hahn
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)
