Arthur Sze
Born
New York City, NY, The United States
Genre
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Sight Lines
4 editions
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published
2019
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The Redshifting Web: New & Selected Poems
4 editions
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published
1998
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Compass Rose
3 editions
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published
2014
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Quipu
4 editions
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published
2005
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The Ginkgo Light
4 editions
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published
2009
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Silk Dragon: Translations from the Chinese
4 editions
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published
2001
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Archipelago
2 editions
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published
1995
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River River
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Dazzled
2 editions
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published
1982
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Chinese Writers on Writing
2 editions
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published
2010
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“Poetry has a crucial role to play in our lives, society, and the world. It helps us slow down, hear clearly, see deeply, and envision what matters most in our lives."—Arthur Sze”
―
―
“The call to abandon illusions is a call to abandon a condition which requires illusions.”
― Sight Lines
― Sight Lines
“Unpacking a Globe
I gaze at the Pacific and don’t expect
to ever see the heads on Easter Island,
though I guess at sunlight rippling
the yellow grasses sloping to shore;
yesterday a doe ate grass in the orchard:
it lifted its ears and stopped eating
when it sensed us watching from
a glass hallway—in his sleep, a veteran
sweats, defusing a land mine.
On the globe, I mark the Battle of
the Coral Sea—no one frets at that now.
A poem can never be too dark,
I nod and, staring at the Kenai, hear
ice breaking up along an inlet;
yesterday a coyote trotted across
my headlights and turned his head
but didn’t break stride; that’s how
I want to live on this planet:
alive to a rabbit at a glass door—
and flower where there is no flower.”
―
I gaze at the Pacific and don’t expect
to ever see the heads on Easter Island,
though I guess at sunlight rippling
the yellow grasses sloping to shore;
yesterday a doe ate grass in the orchard:
it lifted its ears and stopped eating
when it sensed us watching from
a glass hallway—in his sleep, a veteran
sweats, defusing a land mine.
On the globe, I mark the Battle of
the Coral Sea—no one frets at that now.
A poem can never be too dark,
I nod and, staring at the Kenai, hear
ice breaking up along an inlet;
yesterday a coyote trotted across
my headlights and turned his head
but didn’t break stride; that’s how
I want to live on this planet:
alive to a rabbit at a glass door—
and flower where there is no flower.”
―
Topics Mentioning This Author
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