after a woodblock print by Utamaro Wet hair bleedsdown her back, as if the bladehad slipped from her mouth & slashed her. All is water:ocean, glistening strandsof hair, the cloth she wrings dry. Her teeth claspthe blade to shuck shell-fish.A crouching woman offers a shellwith ragged edges,gestures, Try one. The basket is full.Sea scent weavesthrough air […]
Author: Dean Kostos
Dean Kostos’ eighth collection, Pierced by Night-Colored Threads, was released in September of 2017. His previous collection, This Is Not a Skyscraper, won the Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award, selected by Mark Doty. His poems, personal essays, and reviews have appeared in The Bangalore Review (India), Barrow Street, Boulevard, Chelsea, and others.
THE HOBBY HORSE
after a woodblock print by Harunobu In this print, let’s pretendthe woman is the mother. She stepsfrom a block of wood,freed by the artist’s gouge.The umbrella in her hand tilts over her son. A hobby horselurches beneath his legsas if to result in arrival.But distance means nothingas cherry blossoms scour the sky. Clouds of camellias […]
