Gone

/ Issue 15.1 /

Oceans rose
And rivers went dry,

Bright birds fell
From withered trees,

Bees flew backwards
Into the past like arrows

Missing their marks,
So pollen turned to ash

While time ran out of
Clocks, or else stood still

Long enough for people
To see everything vanish:

All this world’s beauty,
Its plangent mystery,

Its radiance, sanctity,
Even its memory.

Maurya Simon

Maurya Simon

Maurya Simon has published ten volumes of poetry, including her most recent book, The Wilderness: New and Selected Poems, 1980-2016, which was awarded the 2019 Gold Medal in Poetry from the Independent Booksellers Association. She’s been the recipient of an NEA Fellowship in poetry, as well as serving multiple Visiting Artist Residencies at the MacDowell Colony and the American Academy in Rome. Her poems have been translated into Hebrew, French, Spanish, Greek, and Farsi. Simon taught literature and creative writing in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside for thirty years, and serves currently as a Professor of the Graduate Division. She divides her time between San Clemente and the Angeles National Forest in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California.
Maurya Simon

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Author: Maurya Simon

Maurya Simon has published ten volumes of poetry, including her most recent book, The Wilderness: New and Selected Poems, 1980-2016, which was awarded the 2019 Gold Medal in Poetry from the Independent Booksellers Association. She’s been the recipient of an NEA Fellowship in poetry, as well as serving multiple Visiting Artist Residencies at the MacDowell Colony and the American Academy in Rome. Her poems have been translated into Hebrew, French, Spanish, Greek, and Farsi. Simon taught literature and creative writing in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside for thirty years, and serves currently as a Professor of the Graduate Division. She divides her time between San Clemente and the Angeles National Forest in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California.