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Ars Poetica

By Kevin Simmonds


I can write a poem
to the limbs of a grandmother
seeded in a scorched field
where her house stood
before the drone

I can write as her left arm singing
to its hand
Calm now, she's gone

Some man
I'm almost certain
it's a man
can write a memo
about this field
left foot tapping impatiently

His memo isn't a poem
but who said it had to be

Added: Tuesday, July 15, 2014  /  From "Bend to it" (Salmon Poetry, 2014). Used with permission.

Kevin Simmonds is a poet originally from New Orleans. His books include the poetry collections Bend to it (Salmon Poetry, 2014) and Mad for Meat (Salmon Poetry, 2011), the edited works Collective Brightness: LGBTIQ Poets on Faith, Religion & Spirituality (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2011) and Ota Benga under My Mother's Roof (University of South Carolina Press, 2012), and the chapbooks less than infinity: a san francisco psalter (Galvez & Allen, 2018) and The Noh of Dorian Corey (Galvez & Allen, 2017). He lives in San Francisco.

Other poems by this author