ISSUE 44
August 2009

Simon Perchik


THE CORTLAND REVIEW
 

POETRY
Julia Alter
Kurt Brown
Alex Dimitrov This marks an author's first online publication
Gregory Lawless
Austin MacRae
Kirby Olson
Simon Perchik
Marvyn Petrucci
Dan Veach This marks an author's first online publication
Ryan Vine
Rob Walker
Hilde Weisert
Marjory Wentworth
Ross White
Michael Wynn
 

FICTION
Haley Carrollhach This marks an author's first online publication
Mariko Nagai
 

INTERVIEW
David M. Katz
interviews Daniel Brown
 

BOOK REVIEW
David Rigsbee
reviews Divine Comedy: Journeys through a
Regional Geography

three new works by
John Kinsella

 

Simon Perchik is an attorney whose poetry has appeared in Partisan Review, The New Yorker, and elsewhere.

Untitled Poem #3    

Even the sun is terrified
hiding from stars :kisses
that refire the moon
—you will think it's morning
this time for good, the moonlit breeze
lifting its great shadow
as in that story where a boy
and his carpet or words
windblown on some yellowing, torn page

—you will squint, your heart
carry the blizzard under each breath
under you lips
—you will think you're flying
pulling from your lips
handfuls where weeds
crack open steep cliffs
to refill the lightning bolt in your back
—you'll think it's air

breathe in these stars
let the sun come back
only to rest, some shade
not too high, behind the yard
and trees unraveling to snow.

You will bandage the sun
with your shadow
lift its darkness too weak now
to even lean under your shoulder

—you kiss! higher, so high  these stars
as a snowdrift stamping its feet
that once were yours
and stone. And dancing.

And from all that light
you spill out a knife
and the sun which never took root
lies still for the wound
refills the sky, the kiss
the kiss, the kiss, the kiss, the kiss and kiss.

 

 

Simon Perchik: Poetry
Copyright ©2009 The Cortland Review Issue 44The Cortland Review