National Poetry Month: Yael Kropsky

George Tooker

"Government Bureau"

(1956)

Dear _________:

(Yael Kropsky)

Perhaps the connecting noun is a bone
Washed over, over
Set by a whale or gust of generosity
Gray vapor of winter 
The silence of this parking lot

I was trying to lilt you off the page
Fishing with my whole handcuff
Then with straddles
Finally pathos, curled as in a flag
Diatonic laughter 

                       As soon as you come        you go 

Without accompaniment

            Naturally, we
Sire the thoughts
We do not want

The metaphor I’ve been looking for —

Snow drifts 
Discreetly over the Superfund site
We expect to be defeated
Completely within a day

Stay

         Whoever you are

Let me carry you over my head

***

"Dear _________" appeared online at 30 x Lace, a website curated by Carrie Murphy. Murphy's accompanying notes: 

Yael’s recommendation:

I’ve really been enjoying Moving Blanket, by Kostas Anagnopoulos from Ugly Duckling Presse. These poems are high-flying and intimate at the same time, teasing out subtle shifts in language and awareness while staying (mostly) anchored to the physical world. There’s also something just rare and generous about this book. It’s good people.

Yael Kropsky is a digital media junkie, non-practicing librarian, parent, and poet who lives and works in Ithaca and Brooklyn, NY.