ISSUE 40
August 2008

J.T. Barbarese

 

J.T. Barbarese is the author of four books of poems, most recently A Very Small World (Orchises, 2005) and The Black Beach (U. of North Texas, 2005), and a translation of Euripides' The Children of Heracles (University of Pennsylvania, 1999). His essays and literary journalism have appeared in The Sewanee Review and The Georgia Review and his fiction in Story Quarterly and North American Review. An Associate Professor of English, he teaches in the M.F.A. Program of Rutgers University's Camden, New Jersey campus.

On a Wall    


The motion that is rest,
the rest that is restless
and all the rest
that is so precious

perishes. I come to—
regain consciousness—
when I come to you
and nothing is between us.



Sundown with Paycheck and Pitchfork    


The grass is dry
and dandelionized.
The world is

the slum
the sun runs.
The browned bankrupt

wander their lawns
and blend.
Relax, you are nearly

dead, says some light
nibbling a roofline.
It knows what's up.

The dirt
and darkness
eternal

footnote
what was and will be
in the hiss boom bah

of what is.
Then the sun,
big spender,

blunt-spoken,
draws me me:
squat shadow, a

pale afterthought
doodled by
a tree.

 

 

J.T. Barbarese: Poetry
Copyright ©2008 The Cortland Review Issue 40The Cortland Review