12 May 2009 | Vol. 9, No. 1
the sun with a glitter of knives
a sniff of locomotives paws the tracks
steel horses bridled
by an enthusiastic crowd of Italians
a gangrene of professors
too long dealers in second-hand graveyards
in the sinister bodies of dormitories
hurling off in violent spasms
shrunken, crucified dreams as damaging
as drunks
the sickly prisoner
will throw us in the wastebasket
let us make a floral tribute
to our fragile restlessness
oh, the joy of seeing your exes
we want no part of it
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About the author:
Jeff Encke's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Black Warrior Review, Colorado Review, Double Room, Fence, Poet Lore, Quarterly West, Salt Hill, Tarpaulin Sky, and 3rd Bed, among others. He has taught creative writing and literary criticism at both Columbia University in New York and Richard Hugo House in Seattle.
"Aziz Salih Al-Numan," "Latif Nusayyif Jasim Al-Dulaymi," and "Sa'd Abdul-Majid Al-Faisal Al-Tikriti" are part of a book-length series entitled Most Wanted; each addresses a figure from the Iraq's Most Wanted deck published by the Department of Defense in March 2003. Short phrases from these poems also appear on the playing cards of a custom-designed deck, which has been included in several exhibitions, including a visual poetry show at Harvard University in March 2005. Additional information about the project is available online at http://www.matlub.net/fulldeck.
For further reading:
See the complete list of work by Jeff Encke at 42opus. Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 9, No. 1, where "the sun with a glitter of knives" ran on May 12, 2009. List other work with these same labels: poetry.
