“Harm,”an Excerpt from SALIENT, the Just-Published Book-Length Poem from Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr. (poetry ’09)


HARM
Just north of Railway Wood
British Trench Map Sheet: 28 NW 4 Ypres
 
 
We are no longer confused about harm.
 
Harm is in specific locations. 
I.5.d.9.1, for example, the small field
100 yards due east of Gully Farm.
 
We strive to remain unattached,
without attraction or aversion
to material forms. 
   The way
Phillips and Mercer did,
who understood such distinctions.
 
Most of them is still missing.
 
Cover and excerpt courtesy of New Directions