By Hayden Church "Lake Suwa in Shinano Province" by Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1830-1832 Daring countryside,Poking snake headsEntombed in weeds—Orchids surviving still,Placid and historic.And even the chicksAre out now, dancingTo a song in the grassThat says, I hear God.Pondside insects hiddenBy volumes of rainingPetals of leaves to beRaked by the followingBreeze into the rippling,Humming body—A fish, … Continue reading Songs in the Grass

By Ted Metrakas Selection from "Bacchus and Ariadne" by Titian, 1520-1523 Ariadne is the horizon.Her smile is the earth itself smiling.That is what the horizon is,The earth’s smile to itself. Just as the earth smiles to itself, so tooDoes Ariadne. Why does she smile?As the earth smiles,A world is opened — that’s the horizon.The horizon is … Continue reading Horizon

By Roddy O'Hare "Grotesque" by Roddy O'Hare, 2017       I.Our modern grotto —BacklitBy damp eastern genii —Closed door blushing To be splitBy some arcade hand of Sugarcane — And skipping past  Walls will lay ashy Finger vain Down to unbreatheThe word —Basement ponds flickerShards of slicker oil And curdClotted, unfixed findsA soundUnheard by skin —           II.By cherry treeBoundRivering bodies TwineIn grounded soul In plasticine hand … Continue reading Two Diptychs

By John Pelech A poem on Euclid's first four definitions The frontispiece of Sir Henry Billingsley's first English version of Euclid's Elements, 1570 i am following corpses in deepest rotmost precise of parts the point here playdots arrange and form a first orderthose skinny bones are length unornamentedfrom a deathly thinness a most narrownessfat-less sides constrict the erosive … Continue reading Euclid, Definitions I-IV

By Christian Mack "Orpheus Charming the Animals" by Peregrino da Cesena, 1490-1510 I.The heart sings a song of black diamonds— Beauty, nature-crafted, ephemeral, barely lingering— Onyx rose, glinting obsidian thorns; and Orpheus twirling among the petals, twirling in crimson, twirling in shade, rapturous vertigo, Grace-- how has she come to be so sharp? And how … Continue reading Three Poems from a Chicago Winter

By Mike Laganella "Untitled (Black and Gray)" by Mark Rothko, 1969-70. (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Gift, The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986) The night outsideVast and voidCannot break into this room.The lightThat shinesAnd shows my face to you Keeps him at bay.And though the reflections play Upon the glassAnd show the one the … Continue reading The Night Awaiting

By TD "The Arrival" by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, c. 1913 From side to side || behind us he is weaving Soaring on high || but his wings barely moving Back down on earth || on our small tub ungraceful Cold sprays smash us || each gust gifting a face-full Over the rail || and … Continue reading The Albatross

By Christian Mack "Hoarfrost" by Théodore Rousseau, 1845 The sky’s gone quiet— the angels are dead.Elysian fields a mass grave, ethereal.No longer do I hearheaven’s chiming.Glittering choir,Fill this silent night,for no barebeating heartcan fill the silence— a murmur in the expanse— My god, My godSuch silence…