In Quarantine - When did death
When did death become so common?
In which of my decades? And is that natural?
Or was I shielded from the sun before,
by the great shade trees always lining the avenues?
I’m sitting in a place between outside and in,
with insect sounds between melody and industry.
Vibrations, zanzare, are eating the serrations
from these lavish plants’ leaves. A screech,
then a mourning dove’s reluctant quatrain.
Christina Pugh’s new book of essays on poetry, Ghosts and the Overplus, was just released by the University of Michigan Press “Poets on Poetry” series. She has also published five books of poems including Stardust Media (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020), winner of the Juniper Prize for Poetry. Her sixth book of poetry, The Right Hand, is forthcoming (Tupelo Press, 2024). Her poems have appeared widely, including in The Atlantic, Poetry, Yale Review, Colorado Review, and other publications. The recipient of fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Poetry Society of America, the Bogliasco Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, and others, she is a professor in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she was recently announced Distinguished Scholar of the Year in Humanities, Arts, Design, and Architecture. www.christinapughpoet.com