<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 style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">The Work Of The Poet Is To Name What Is Holy</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">The work of the poet</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">is to name what is holy:</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">the spring snow</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">that hides unevenness</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">but also records</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">a dog walked at lunchtime,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">the hieroglyphs of birds,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">pawprints of a life</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">tiny but resolute;</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">how, like Russian dolls,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">we nest in previous selves;</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">the lustrous itch</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">that compels an oyster</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">to forge a pearl,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">or a poet a verse;</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">the drawing on of evening</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">belted at the waist;</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">snowfields of diamond dust;</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">the cozy monotony</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">of our days, in which</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">love appears with a holler;</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">the way a man's body</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">has its own geography––</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">cliffs, aqueducts, pumice fields,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">but a woman's is the jungle,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">hot, steamy, full of song;</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">the brain's curiosity shop</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">filled with quaint mementos</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">and shadow antiques</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">hidden away in drawers;</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">the plain geometry</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">of you, me, and art––</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">our angles at rest</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">among shifting forms.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">The work of the poet</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">is to name what is holy,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">and not to mind so much</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">the pinch of words</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">to cope with memories</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">weak as falling buildings,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">or render loss, love,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">and the penitentiary</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">of worry where we live.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">The work of the poet</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">is to name what is holy,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">a task fit for eternity,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class="">or the small Eden of this hour.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(20, 20, 20);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> - Diane Ackerman</div></div></body></html>