Their fires have spread from sea to the mountains
Circle the wagons, our herds have fled
Night crackles like a fox
Is that a carriage, a hotel, charged with what?
The old country is filled with that morning light
We look for in paintings with one old tree
A clearing beside a road with one lone traveler
Golden bramble, homes made light
Smoke in whirlpools from the chimneys
Her cheek is your jewel, that map on the wall
Measures the radius of desire
That skull is your marital contract
That branch stretching from her crown
Is a symbol for solitude en plein air
And visible behind a lilac shade is a young prince
Fixing the queen’s long ochre pipe
The Good Solomonite fixes her tea
Some men live lives so voluminous
Their images profligate, disperse & are nothing
Better than all else to have the one thing
A flood, a crash, another tour somewhere
That might as well be ether: it is the one image
That will get us there
Listen, go down—go down then come back up
This is all one does, all one is
Soft train sounds
On a rainy day
Softer than rain
Sam Kerbel
Sam Kerbel was shortlisted for the 2024 Oxford Poetry Prize. His first chapbook, Can’t Beat the Price (2025), is available from Bottlecap Press. His poems are forthcoming from Eunoia Review and Libre.
