Island PsalmAuthor(s): Jay SnodgrassSource: The Iowa Review, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Fall, 2007), p. 50Published by: University of IowaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20536825 .

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JAY SNODGRASS

Island Psalm

I can see the islands from the high-rise balcony In my mind. The tiny yellow "check engine" light In my eye. I worry that appearance will become

Everything. I straighten my tie before I eat the fish

The ocean brought me. My dream uncorks on you And my oils separate the night. There is no stain.

The flat crescent of the planet points its finger

Away from me, that is, from the self. In the far, Far off, a pine break gives hope to an ending Or is it the smoke of some tiny fire?

I keep hoping for everything to take a word, An open hole to the burning lungs Of the deeper shape of the planet. I pray. Come on Archangel, start fucking this up!

50

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