Bagatelle

William Fuller

a capacity to exist
and to linger

like a straw hat
inching up a hill

take the case of the person
after it was produced

the notes are thinking
that’s not the tune

suddenly the trees
are disappointed

for they have been
tampered with

in abstracto
by the sky
 

To celebrate National Poetry Month and in appreciation of the many cancelled book launches and tours, we are happy to present an April Celebration: 30 Presses/30 Poets (#ArmchairBookFair). Please join us every day for new poetry from the presses that sustain us. 

Feature Date

Series

Selected By

Share This Poem

Print This Poem

William Fuller grew up in Barrington, Illinois, and received his PhD from the University of Virginia in 1983. His most recent books of poetry include Hallucination (2011), Quorum (2012), and Playtime (2015). He lives in Winnetka, Illinois.

Chicago, Illinois

The title poem in William Fuller's Daybreak begins with something abstract. "At daybreak one saw receptacles from the day before and in those receptacles lay strings of associations." From such associations "eyes emanating soft red light" emerge. Practical considerations follow—including the tax consequences of such associations—without weighing down the free flight of metaphor as a vehicle for "transparent uninterrupted thought." Definite pronouns without antecedents take on a physical presence too, as real as the history of ideas. Each poem in this collection builds a memory palace for how to forget.

Poetry Daily Depends on You

With your support, we make reading the best contemporary poetry a treasured daily experience. Consider a contribution today.