somewhere is january

Mario Petrucci

Always a poet of boldness and range, Petrucci here places himself surely at the confluence of linguistic energy and formal innovation. somewhere is january projects a fierce and utterly modern lyricism to confirm his place among the most vital and thrilling of contemporary poets. Nowhere else in Petrucci’s work do the triumphs and uncertainties of being gain such powerful access to the procedures of his poetry: born of immediacy and humanity, these poems offer a complex generosity that intensifies and deepens at every visit.

days when sun

dips white &
simple between two
brick-hard places across

the way – framed by lace
trees & streaking desk
with chalk – then

dimming to its
last flare inspires dust-
lazy eddies in which i see my

maiden form as house all at
once swivels to a crystal
of beam & plaster

to catch brief
gleam of silence & if
i could i would take that

thin wrist of dust – fix my
grip on it & lead me
out of the light