“Work” by Peter Schireson (poetry, ’17)

An excerpt from the poem “Work” by Peter Schireson (poetry, ’17), available at The Ekphrastic Review:

 

 

Work

“When you paint Spring, just paint Spring. Painting willows, plums, peaches, or apricots is painting willows, plums, peaches, or apricots. It is not yet painting Spring.”  –Dogen

Evening lights began to blink,
still, day held light enough to paint
a man in a car parked on Hollywood Boulevard
eating his way through a bag of plums.
Later, at Zuma Beach washed up onto the sand,
a horseshoe crab, piercing tail intact. […continue reading here]