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Undisclosed Recipients by Katherine Gibbel
To:
Subject: We’re Driving Away from the Sunset
away from the accident—what you call a condition
>of the quarter inch snow film
gone already—the rearview making an orange cloud embedded
>in the blue declivity—a skyline of slopes
>>each oak-lined house incapable of encountering
the space of what we know
>the backward moving view—the walls
>>of light encase the car
>>>in argument for distance
for the golden precedent of wheat
>or the low fields of what’s not yet corn
>>a $750 idea slanting the dash
on a Tuesday type of Sunday
the horizon knows how to dress up as a movie
>we try to dress ourselves up as if
>>whoever thought of love was a friend of ours
>>>somewhere out in the possible hills
you are not an island
>not in this car—not in the world
>>its pinpoint precision loosening
>>>as we zoom closer toward the map
>>>you are here with me
in athleisure in braided pinks
>that tie close your clothes
>>before the arrow of I-80
what does fright know of automatic
>windows—what does the wind
>>know of itself—neither I nor you
>>>could guess
you chug fluids in the passenger side
>afflicted—what or whom we take back or with us
the set and unknowable plan
To:
Subject: Am I Your Bird
in bluestone below the effigy
>this pewter light lining
>>meteorites along the belt
of high quality marble
>I mistook boulders for leftovers
>>but we’re all finding ways to shore up erosion
>>>along the effulgent lakes
as if soft light would eat stone
>and the statue’s flared jacket in unyielding bronze
cast and uncast seems to catch the same wind
>whipping your hair and the fine wrinkles
>>of your face into a smile before the fixed carousel
of my obvious heart
>not everything that moves moves me
my breath slips with the cormorant
>slipping under the water’s
>>surface—thank god for cohesion for the arc
>>>the flung stick made in the air
>>>>into the lip
of the water—what we gather
>to protect the shelf of land
>>from falling into the insistent tide
>>>all these war hero sculptures
surveying the byways—that which we protect
>and that which we try to leave behind
>>some sour memory in low
>>>in full relief—the sudden eagle
flying toward me in the passenger seat of your car
>eye-level—my bird’s-eye-view
>>on that high-up bridge between the mountains
of what crosses my attention—I hope
>I don’t miss the birches
>>in their enamel shells for the woods
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Katherine Gibbel's work has been published in or is forthcoming from Bat City Review, The Bennington Review, Gulf Coast Online, Underbong, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She teaches poetry at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.
Katherine Gibbel's work has been published in or is forthcoming from Bat City Review, The Bennington Review, Gulf Coast Online, Underbong, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She teaches poetry at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.