We are a public forum committed to collective reasoning and the imagination of a more just world. Join today to help us keep the discussion of ideas free and open to everyone, and enjoy member benefits like our quarterly books.
We are a public forum committed to collective reasoning and the imagination of a more just world. Join today to help us keep the discussion of ideas free and open to everyone, and enjoy member benefits like our quarterly books.
Dear sad ducks. Dear boats and truck.
Dear long barn in the fallow field.
Dear vines in winter. Dear deer & such—
Dear powerlines in a slow valley.
Dear unnamed ranges on the smoggy skyline:
hills like fists or narwhals or loaves of bread.
Dear hawk and thicket, scaup pecking
the puddly traffic island; dear racetrack,
dear gimcrack & so on—
Dear green tractor in lemongrass.
Dear kestrel and red-tailed hawk,
wobbly pink shed just off the road.
Dear arroyos, toyon, oyster-nacre ocean:
Now that I have your attention
I ask you only to be in the sun as you are.
Hold down the bowl of the sky with your shapes,
Hold this earth a while longer
as you swim in my vision—
Tess Taylor is author of a chapbook, The Misremembered World. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Poetry.
Contributions from readers enable us to provide a public space, free and open, for the discussion of ideas. Join this effort – become a supporting reader today.
Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox. Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter, Monthly Roundup, and event notifications.
“Never do unto me what your uncle has done to us.” A family member’s disappearance leads to personal revelations.
Critics say human rights discourse blunts social transformation. It doesn’t have to.
“My mother has not slept for seven days.” A Taiwanese woman’s brother avoids calling their mother, setting off an insomniac unraveling.
A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975. Registered 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more about our mission