You’ve been not quite asked to be here,
and you’ve come all this way just to talk,
not just about the weather as it churns,
its gravid cumuli, but of progress, too,
so called, so far, the first edge of light
and sound and letters, breath and debt—
another poem, that (or every other)—
and of ships found in bottles, of cars
without garages, and of snarl after snarl
after snarl after snarl, none of this catnip
to the exurban wannabe alphas in the mix,
but here and here and here and here’s the thing:
all that’s vapid’s like glitter on an air horn;
a past mind has left behind a raging orchard.

Poet and translator Graham Foust is the author of nine books of poems, including Terminations (2023, Flood Editions), Embarrassments (2021), and Nightnigalelessness (2018). With Samuel Frederick, he has translated four volumes by the late German poet Ernst Meister, including Wallless Space, which was nominated for a National Translation Award. Born in Tennessee and raised in Wisconsin, Foust received his Ph. D. in English from the University at Buffalo in 2002. He lives in Colorado and works at the University of Denver. This poem appears in his most recent collection Terminations.

Related Events

• On June 28th at 7:30 p.m., Graham Foust will join poet Amy De’Ath as featured performers at a Just Buffalo Literary Center Silo City Reading Series event also featuring a musical performance by Allegra Krieger and an installation by visual artist Chuck Tingley. Silo City Reading Series events take place in Marine A grain elevator, behind Duende at Silo City, 85 Silo City Row. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the events begin at 7:30 p.m. Books by featured poets in the series will be available for purchase by Buffalo-based bookseller Fitz Books.

The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.