These poems appear in the latest issue of the LARB Print Quarterly Journal: No. 20 Childhood
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The critics say
we’ve finally begun to move
from solipsism
to futility.
It’s true
that standing still
is exhausting.
*
As a way out
of myself
(and into someone near me),
more gripping
than vampire stories,
more realistic
than falling in love,
I watch toddlers
form thoughts
and act on them.
It’s a good thing
mind’s distributed.
“It wasn’t me,”
one says,
repeatedly.
“I haven’t died.”
*
Each tract,
thus bracketed,
waits
for what precedes,
what follows.
*
I accept defeat.
To accept defeat
is to regress,
to go back
where you came from.
This may be
the fountain of youth!
I claim it
for myself.
Rae Armantrout is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. Her book Wobble was a finalist for 2018 National Book Award.
To receive the LARB Quarterly Journal, become a member or purchase a copy at your local bookstore.
¤
Closer
The critics say
we’ve finally begun to move
from solipsism
to futility.
It’s true
that standing still
is exhausting.
*
As a way out
of myself
(and into someone near me),
more gripping
than vampire stories,
more realistic
than falling in love,
I watch toddlers
form thoughts
and act on them.
What Follows
It’s a good thing
mind’s distributed.
“It wasn’t me,”
one says,
repeatedly.
“I haven’t died.”
*
Each tract,
thus bracketed,
waits
for what precedes,
what follows.
*
I accept defeat.
To accept defeat
is to regress,
to go back
where you came from.
This may be
the fountain of youth!
I claim it
for myself.
¤
Rae Armantrout is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. Her book Wobble was a finalist for 2018 National Book Award.
LARB Contributor
Rae Armantrout is the author of Versed (2009), Finalists (2022), and the forthcoming Go Figure. She is the current judge of the Yale Younger Poets Prize.
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