It stands for almost nothing—
this kitelike flame of soul-hovering
yellow and blue somehow fluttering
over a string and in
a wind that’s always blowing
face it…. again and again
amazing with a quiet glowing
so thin and yet it
fills the room and burns
through skin…….. like almost nothing
Peter Cole
Peter Cole’s most recent book is Hymns & Qualms: New and Selected Poems and Translations (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017). Among his honors are an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature and a MacArthur Fellowship. He divides his time between Jerusalem and New Haven, where he teaches each spring at Yale.
Latest posts by Peter Cole (see all)
- Nun : נ : ן - October 26, 2020
- Lámed : ל - October 26, 2020
- tet : ט - June 7, 2020
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