Kim Addonizio

Over the Bright and Darkened Lands | Out in the Tranquil Bay
November 11, 2012 Addonizio Kim

Over the Bright and Darkened Lands

 

I sit in one of the dives.
I feel kind of dizzy.
October 29, 2009.
In Peshawar, the shoppers drop.
Explosives in a car
explode kids
and their mothers
in Meena Bazaar.
The bottles look pretty, lit up
like glass pyres.
There’s an olive in my higher power.
The jukebox is haunted.
I brandish my glass.
Smoke stinks in my hair.
We must fuck one another.

 

Out in the Tranquil Bay

 

The sea is calm tonight.
Thank you for coming.
The tumor is inoperable.
You are an infidel.
The courtroom is crowded.
The witness has disappeared.
This elixir tastes weird.
The eternal note sounds.
The flatted fifth drones.
Here is your portion.
You are on fire.
Please put yourself out.

Kim Addonizio’s most recent books are Mortal Trash (W. W. Norton) and a memoir-in-essays, Bukowski in a Sundress (Penguin).  She is the author of ten other books of poetry and prose, including Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within and (with Dorianne Laux) The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. Among her honors are fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, two Pushcart Prizes, and a Commonwealth Club Poetry Medal. Addonizio teaches poetry workshops privately in Oakland, CA, and online. A new collection, Rag & Echo, is forthcoming. Visit her at www.kimaddonizio.com.