from Migration: New and Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2005)
Listen
with the night falling
Photo taken in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia by the Woman who posts Poems on the Front of her House, 2018
we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
The Brooklyn Bridge (Variation on an Old Theme), 1939, oil on canvas. Joseph Stella, 1877-1946, American. Whitney Museum of (North) American Art, NY
we are running out of the glass rooms
Windows in the contemporary galleries at MOMA, NY taken through a prism, 2016
with our mouths full of food
Glass case with pies, 1962, burlap soaked in plaster, painted with enamel, with pie tins, in glass and metal case.
Claes Oldenburg, born 1929, American. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
to look at at the sky
A scene from a 5-channel video installation, The Refusal of Time, by William Kentridge, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. William Kentridge, born 1955, South African.
Its subjects were time and space, and the legacy of colonialism and the industrial revolution.
and saythank you
As below
we are standing by the waterthankingit
Detail of State Park, 1946, tempera on composition board. Jared French, 1905-1988, American. Whitney Museum of (North) American Art
standing by the windows looking out
Window, 1968, oil on canvas.
Gerhart Richter, German born 1932. Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC
in our directions
back from a series of hospitals
Modern Day Miracle, 1988, acrylic on canvas.
Robert Colescott, 1925-2009, American. On exhibit in 2019 at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia in 30 Americans, painting from the Rubell Family Collection
back from a mugging
Die. American People Series #20, oil on canvas, 1967. Faith Ringgold, born 1930, American. MOMA, NY
after funerals we are saying thank you
Woman carrying A Coffin; c.1936 oil and Duco on panel.
Luis Arenal Bastar, 1909-1985, Mexican. On exhibit at Philadelphia Museum’s exhibition: Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910-1950. 2016
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are
Threnody II, 1987, oil on linen. Leon Golub, 1922-2004. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
sayingthank you
Incoming, 2016-2017, oil on canvas. Keegan Monahan, American born 1986, Whitney Biennial, 2019
over telephones we are sayingthank you
Detail of Incoming, 2016-2017, oil on canvas. Keegan Monahan, American born 1986, Whitney Biennial, NY, 2019
in doorways
The approach to Dwarkadish, western Gujerat state. 2010.
One of the holiest of the sites of Lord Krishna. A blessing to be there. A blessing to hold the experience in memory.
and in the backs of cars and in
Horizontal escalator between the West and East Wings of the National Gallery, Washington, DC
remembering wars
The Shaw Memorial, 1900, patinated plaster. National Gallery, Washington DC. The actual memorial is in Boston, MA
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1848-1907, American.
The Massachusetts 54th Regiment was the first raised with African Americans during the North American Civil War. Robert Gould Shaw, from a prominent Massachusetts abolitionist family, offered to lead the regiment.
Colonel Shaw was killed in the attack on Fort Wagner in South Carolina in July 1863 along with 258 of 600 in this regiment. Who nevertheless acquitted themselves honorably.
and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying
thank you
Police Beating (Untitled), 1943; ink, graphite, watercolor on paper.
Norman Lewis, 1909-1979, American. On exhibit at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia in 2015
in the banks we are sayingthank you
In a metro station in lower Manhattan, New York. Tom Otterness, American born 1952
in the faces of the officials
Government Bureau, 1956, egg tempera on wood. George Tooker, 1920-2011, American. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
The Subway, 1950, tempera on composition board. George Tooker, 1920-2011, American. Whitney Museum of (North) American Art, NY
and the rich
and of all who will never change
US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at UN Headquarters, New York, 2019
we go on sayingthank you thank you
In Midnight’s Garden, cochineal, various insects, mixed media, 2015.
Jennifer Angus, born Canada, 1961. Part of an exhibition about Wonder made for the re-opening of The Renwick (the Smithsonian Museum of American Art), Washington, D.C.
with the animals dying around us
taking our feelings we are sayingthank you
Blue Ombre, mixed media sculpture, 2016. Tasha Lewis, American. On exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, 2016
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
The Pine Barrens, New Jersey, August 2016
of our lives we are sayingthank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
To Weave Through Time, 1979, acrylic on canvas. John E. Dowell, Jr., American born 1941. Philadelphia Art Museum
with the cities growing over us
Standing While All Around Are Sinking, , 1977, etching and aquatint. Roger Brown, 1941-1997, American. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
A fig tree eating its label. Winterthur, Delaware, 2019
we are sayingthank youfaster and faster
with nobody listening we are sayingthank you
Mizaru, covering his eyes, who sees no evil; Kikazaru, covering his ears, who hears no evil; and Iwazaru, covering his mouth, who speaks no evil.
Gravestone in snow in Old Pine Street Church, built 1768, Philadelphia where volunteers have marked the grave of every soldier who died in the Revolutionary War with an American flag and details of the life and death.
dark though it is
As below
2 lanterns, 1723-1735, Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), China; porcelain with overglaze enamel decoration. The flowers are for peace, unity and longevity
Detail of Painting for My Dad, 2011, oil on canvas, and detail.
Noah Davis, 1983-2015, American. Whom the god’s loved.
Exhibited at the Barnes Foundation in 2019 in 30 Americans from the Rubell Family Collection
