Lia Purpura, Parasol Mushroom (detail), featured in AGNI 102
Solomon’s Wisdom Didn’t Keep
Solomon’s wisdom didn’t keep
him from pining for sleek
horses, so how am I—with no
direct warnings from above—
to keep my mind off you in the bar
mirror fifteen years ago watching
ice pour from the sky, when
we still believed in winter
and bartenders and Peter Buck,
believed no harm could come to us
from mixing Bass and Bushmills
and watching hipsters flaunt
fake fur and silver studs
by the orange heaters
until we were thrown out
into the frozen park
where the glassy trees
reminded us of us,
wrapped brightly
in their misery.
Mark Neely
Mark Neely’s fourth book, Late Stage, was published by Jacar Press in 2025. His awards include an NEA Fellowship, an Indiana Individual Artist grant, and the FIELD Poetry Prize. He is a professor of English at Ball State University and co-editor of River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative. (updated 2/2026)
Read “Half Falling, Half in Flight: A Conversation with Mark Neely” by Eric Higgins in AGNI Online.