Malak Mattar, Untitled (detail), 2024, charcoal on paper
With Due Respect to Thor
Between the brake and clutch
the shrinking dog has hidden.
In the world at large, black hours are being
pearled and shafted. Something had us once;
it seems to be having
a big idea again. A tree
stands out spectacularly
branched; the mind’s eye
grows alert. This god
can hurt. Do we need
to know more? Are we sure? He pours
nine bolts into the mountain’s brain.
Poetry
“I live out my life in the widening coils” by Rainer Maria Rilke
Translated from the German by David Keplinger
Poetry
