Having risen from a branch of the Ni Riverduring a lull in the Battle of Spotsylvania,she settled on the blue upper lip of a deadConfederate corporal, weary. As Union troopsbegan their fifth assault on Laurel Hillshe began to molt, her cloudy wingsclearing with the weather, her spectral bodybrightening and swelling, as if the lifespilling from the ephemeral creatures around herwere filling her. Soon, she rose again,joining the sudden frenzied cloud of her kindcongregating then above the creek’sfizzing waters, their wings ten thousand leadedwindows pierced by an angling evening sun.
The Mayfly: May 12, 1864
Geoffrey Brock
after Miroslav Holub
Feature Date
- August 29, 2019
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Copyright © 2019 by Geoffrey Brock
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Geoffrey Brock is the author of two poetry collections, the editor of The FSG Book of 20th-Century Italian Poetry, and the translator of numerous volumes of Italian poetry and prose. He teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Translation at the University of Arkansas, where he founded and edits The Arkansas International.
Spring 2019
Amherst, Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
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Jim Hicks
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Franny Choi
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Poetry-in-Translation Editor
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