Poem
Yusef Komunyakaa
Gluttony
Gluttony
Gluttony
In a country of splendor & highRitual, in a fat land of zeros,
Sits a man with string & bone
For stylus, hunched over his easel,
Captured by perfection.
But also afflictions live behind
Electric fences, among hedges
& a whirlwind of roses, down
To where he sits beside a gully
Pooling desires. He squints
Till the mechanical horizon is one
Shadowplay against bruised sky,
Till the smoky perfume limps
Into undergrowth. He balls up
Another sheet in unblessed fingers, always
Ready to draw the thing that is all mouth.
© 1999, Yusef Komunyakaa
From: Poetry, Vol. 175, No. 1, October/November
Publisher: Poetry, Chicago
From: Poetry, Vol. 175, No. 1, October/November
Publisher: Poetry, Chicago
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Poems of Yusef Komunyakaa
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Gluttony
In a country of splendor & highRitual, in a fat land of zeros,
Sits a man with string & bone
For stylus, hunched over his easel,
Captured by perfection.
But also afflictions live behind
Electric fences, among hedges
& a whirlwind of roses, down
To where he sits beside a gully
Pooling desires. He squints
Till the mechanical horizon is one
Shadowplay against bruised sky,
Till the smoky perfume limps
Into undergrowth. He balls up
Another sheet in unblessed fingers, always
Ready to draw the thing that is all mouth.
From: Poetry, Vol. 175, No. 1, October/November
Gluttony
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