A Political and Literary Forum

Menu Search
Donate Shop Join
erasing love

Arts in Society

erasing love

June 30, 2015

Kimiko Hahn

Jun 30, 2015


Photo: Harold Schechter
 

erasing love

 
Aubade: Feverish Speculation
 
 
 
Love
                        might still be
 
 
a carcass in deep freeze until              someone          can clean and mount the skeleton
 
 
 
                                                                                    *
Love
                        might still be
 
 
ice in a ditch
 
 
                                                                                    *
Love
 
 
can jettison      bodies              much the way lizards can shed their tails
 
 
                                                                                    *
 
                        If something about tectonic movement is killing
Love
We wanted the kids to see
 
 
tissue samples, skin samples and eyeball samples
 
 
 
 
Ars Poetica
 
 
 
                                    designed to see in the low light of the deep ocean
 
the       eye       is unusually large
 
Love
might still be under water
not spotted
 
 
 
 
Olivia Suggests All the Women in Class Imagine Male Sexuality
 

 
unpredictable
                                    hard
 
 
                        long and eel-like in appearance, can grow to stupendous lengths — though ancient rumors of 55-foot specimens are probably exaggerated
 
 
a handful of
Love
 
 
a variety of parasite
 
          male
 
                                                                        excitement
 
 
Elegy
 
 
 
                        Milton                          said
 
                                                                                                                        left with
 
 
the
remains
 
                                    You can only                            Love
                        an  ichthyologist
 
 
           
 
Ekphrasis
 
 
 
            quite near the surface, suspended vertically with         head  up, just passively floating
 
 
 
and      known as ryugu no tsukai, or “messenger from the sea god’s palace ”
 
picture     it
 
 
 
 
 
Ode to Love
 
 
 
you
 
 
noted with excitement that the male was missing        the posterior part of its body
 
It may be that all individuals pass through a stage in which they are males and then
                        they’re females
 
 
 
the head will soon be delivered to
 
 
 
you

 

Source text: “Oarfish Offer Chance to Study an Elusive Animal Long Thought a Monster” by Douglas Quenqua, The New York Times 11/2/13.

While we have you...

...we need your help. You might have noticed the absence of paywalls at Boston Review. We are committed to staying free for all our readers. Now we are going one step further to become completely ad-free. This means you will always be able to read us without roadblocks or barriers to entry. It also means that we count on you, our readers, for support. If you like what you read here, help us keep it free for everyone by making a donation. No amount is too small. You will be helping us cultivate a public sphere that honors pluralism of thought for a diverse and discerning public.


Support Boston Review

June 30, 2015

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox

Love Boston Review?

Then you’ll love our new membership program! Join us to support engaged discussion on critical issues. You’ll also enjoy exclusive membership benefits.
Get Started

More In Arts in Society

AI’s Human Problem

Alexis L. Boylan

Herman Melville the Poet

Gillian Osborne

László Krasznahorkai’s Catastrophic Harmonies

Holly Case

Kelly’s Love for Waltzes

Reuben Jackson

Elizabeth Hand’s Curious Toys

John Crowley, Elizabeth Hand

The Historian’s Art

Jonathan M. Square, Walter Johnson, Nell Painter

Mother, Grow My Baby

Sabrina Helen Li

Walks in the Park: On the Foreignness of the Socialist Past

Ileana Nachescu

The Bird at the Window

Calista McRae

Copyright © 1993-2020 Boston Review and its authors.

Support Boston Review

Become a Member

Make a tax-deductible donation today

Boston Review Printing Note: For best printing results try turning on any options your web browser's print dialog makes available for printing backgrounds and background graphics.