Poetry: Matthew Cooperman

Jungle Book 6

Matthew Cooperman

 
Instinct arrives in the form of a lizard

who comes to my table at lunch

a strong commotion at the thought

of the feeding     the hunger     the feeding

It is jungle jail      the edge of the clearing

the near/far tide coming in
 

O Lord of the Lizard–

                                        Description

is a failure to seem in the noonday sun

 

Thus night comes      Little Princess

the night which tears at the sea

with its urgent white line

I am nearly fifty and growing tired

You are my hunchback     my window

      and my roar

If there is something to be done

with this life     be My

 

Jungle Book 9

Matthew Cooperman

 
And then went down to the shore

set eyes to see across the sea

a family found and scattered
 

We left our carries there

We set up house and bore the heat resplendent

Ways we could not plan     edges     a blessing

and a curse `til day’s quick end
 

Deepest water carries a weight of wood

from farthest distress      and we      we found

we were distressed and heavy for many years
 

A godly sea delivered wear from tears

and made us whole as fish
 

We will be tired `til the end of days

We will cover the glitter of sun rays with love

a piercing place      unpeopled shore

to crown in sand what gold cannot deliver
 

Matthew Cooperman is the author of the text and image collaboration “Imago for the Fallen World,” with Marius Lehene (Jaded Ibis, 2013) and others. A founding editor of Quarter After Eight and co-poetry editor of Colorado Review, he teaches in the Creative Writing program at Colorado State University.