<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">On Taking the Measure of Your Book</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><i style="font-size: 14px;" class="">for Michael Franco</i></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">there must be a way</div><div class="">to enter your poetry</div><div class="">the way your words turn</div><div class="">into meaning after meaning</div><div class="">into the depths of memory</div><div class="">into the silence of the beach</div><div class="">which of course is never silent</div><div class="">but it seems so when I am there alone</div><div class="">and then the birds come</div><div class="">over the dunes</div><div class="">the tiny sandpipers,</div><div class="">silent in sand</div><div class="">creating the rhythm</div><div class="">of your poem</div><div class="">and far out beyond my eyes</div><div class="">the great white pelicans</div><div class="">and as I watch them I see</div><div class="">how I must enter your poetry</div><div class="">wings folded against the wind</div><div class="">as I slice again and again</div><div class="">into the measure of your ocean</div><div class="">there where silence is translated</div><div class="">into language</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Fran Claggett-Holland</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Fran’s poem was chosen by Naomi Shihab Nye for the New York Times Magazine.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>