By Peter Gizzi, from the spring issue of Granta. Gizzi’s selected poems, In Defense of Nothing, was published last year by Wesleyan University Press.
but I found a way to say no
to the wood in my house
it kept creaking
wouldn’t stop talking
I found a way to say no
I need to be standing
in the warmth of the wood
that the sun made
I need to find myself dissolving
otherwise it is all otherwise
I’m lost, did I say that
I saw the frill of light today
walking on the path
could you hear the stirring
in the wood, pine needles
and the branches
was it wind or a creature
am I here or is it over
this was the first day
the nothing day
in the nothing year
it gave me courage
it gave hints of blue,
clouds, electric
and dancing
it gave me rays
I’ve never seen
shooting down
touching things
this was the first day
