Part of the Story

by Richard Jackson

Family relationships, the past, confinement, nature, mortality, and dreams form the subjects for this collection of poems

Genres: Poetry

98 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

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Reviews

[Edita · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I wanted to say to her
was the prayer the deer turn into
as they step deeper towards those woods
grazing on darkness, or the silence that is
the thistle light of their eyes staring back
for whatever we say means something more.
*
The nets of our stories are always torn.
In one version there are warnings—
a spinning weathervane, knuckled clouds
that flank the harbor, the whole sky
a swaying coat on a nail.
The large cheekbone of an island
rests on water, and the sun, resting
on the edge of land as on some windowsill,
closes its boxer’s eye.
Or else, the storm has passed,
the gulls return, hover like divining rods,
and, tired with such a stern-faced evening,
we set our oars out, wing, and glide.