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
 

Poetry_Headshot_CoopermanMatthew 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.

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