FOLLOW THEM

Matthew Rohrer

Heartbroken over a football game, Autumnevening, of this kind of thing I'm not ashamednor of the twistiness of that diction,or wanting America to burnthough only certain parts deserve it,its forests are beautiful and have donenothing wrong, even the desert's emptinessthough it terrifies me, is beautiful,and tacos, and kebabs wrapped up in naan,and today walking through the park I turnedto see dozens of bright white seagulls flockedon the windy lake against the blue skyand I felt an ache and I sent a textto a friend I said TODAY I SAW FLOCKEDON THE LAKE WHITE SEAGULLS IT WAS BEAUTIFULhe wrote FOLLOW THEM it was too late

Feature Date

March 24, 2022

Series

Selected By

Share This Poem

Print This Poem

Featured Poet

Matthew Rohrer is the author of 10 books of poems, most recently THE SKY CONTAINS THE PLANS, published by Wave Books. He was a co-founder of FENCE Magazine and FENCE Books. He lives in Brooklyn and teaches at NYU.

Featured Translator

Buy This Book

American Poetry Review

Nov/Dec 2021

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Editor
Elizabeth Scanlon

Featured journal

The American Poetry Review is dedicated to reaching a worldwide audience with a diverse array of the best contemporary poetry and literary prose. APR also aims to expand the audience interested in poetry and literature, and to provide authors, especially poets, with a far-reaching forum in which to present their work.

APR has continued uninterrupted publication of The American Poetry Review since 1972, and has included the work of over 1,500 writers, among whom there are nine Nobel Prize laureates and thirty-three Pulitzer Prize winners.

Poetry Daily Depends on You

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