09.21.2011

troy, when the walls fell

— 09.21.2011, 11:08 PM

The walls dissolved. Troy’s citizenry wept.
Achilles’ vengeance canceled out the day.
A man was executed while I slept.

Achilles’ men expected they’d accept
the hollow horse, the camouflaged decay.
Their walls dissolved, Troy’s citizenry wept.

He did not gentle go, and though he kept
beseeching the Achaeans, won no stay.
A man was executed while I slept.

Olympus’ gods were never so inept
as then. Their job’s to know how our hearts weigh.
The walls dissolved. Troy’s citizenry wept.

I would have dreamed through all of this, except
the television woke me up to say
a man was executed while I slept.

Measureless, his heart’s weight as he stepped
into that room. As death was underway
our walls dissolved. Troy’s citizenry wept.
A man was executed while we slept—

Shelley and Byron and Dreams

Teaching Philosophy

The Perks of Being an English Major

Updates, &c

Two quick updates—

• I've recently been named a finalist for the 2011 Ruth Lilly Fellowship. I'm enormously thankful to the individual readers and the Poetry Foundation overall for selecting me as a finalist, and many thanks to those of you who have wished me luck for the final round. Fingers crossed!

• One of my poems will be appearing in a future issue of The New York Quarterly—details TK.

Current Soundtrack

"Fake Palindromes," Andrew Bird
"Keep the Car Running," Arcade Fire
"Holland, 1945," Neutral Milk Hotel
"Fake Empire," The National
"Deck Space," Kenin
"Calamity Song," The Decemberists
"Rappaport vs. The Jet (That Bombed the Grocery Store)," Panic Strikes a Chord
"Mistaken for Strangers," The National
"Long December," Counting Crows
"The General," Dispatch
"We Intertwined," The Hush Sound
"Cathedrals," Jump Little Children
"Teardrop," Massive Attack
"New Hampshire," Matt Pond PA
"Down by the Water," The Decemberists
"Wine Red," The Hush Sound
"Such Great Heights," The Postal Service
"New Slang," The Shins

Recently Read/Currently (Re)Reading

Sum, David Eagleman—superb and imaginative, but not as mindblowing as I'd expected.

The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner—I'd forgotten how disorienting the first thirty or so pages are.

The Iliad, Homer—fantastic, but not as good (and, frankly, not as exciting) as The Odyssey. (I'm reading the Fitzgerald translation.)

While Mortals Sleep, Kurt Vonnegut—just started. This is his early, previously unpublished fiction, so I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's not nearly as good as his later work.

Fall Higher, Dean Young—just started. Impressions to come!