ection>
Note to the Reader
Copper Canyon Press encourages you to calibrate your settings by using the line of characters below, which optimizes the line length and character size:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque euism
Please take the time to adjust the size of the text on your viewer so that the line of characters above appears on one line, if possible.
When this text appears on one line on your device, the resulting settings will most accurately reproduce the layout of the text on the page and the line length intended by the author. Viewing the title at a higher than optimal text size or on a device too small to accommodate the lines in the text will cause the reading experience to be altered considerably; single lines of some poems will be displayed as multiple lines of text. If this occurs, the turn of the line will be marked with a shallow indent.
Thank you. We hope you enjoy these poems.
This e-book edition was created through a special grant provided by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Copper Canyon Press would like to thank Constellation Digital Services for their partnership in making this e-book possible.
for Sarah
Contents
Title Page
1 I
1 Sun Bear
5 How Do You Like the Underworld
7 My Childhood
8 Poem for England
9 Poem for Engagement
10 Poem for a Persian Singer
11 Poem for Giants
12 Poem for Japan
13 The Moment
1 II
1 Korea
2 Poem for Wine
3 Poem for Plutocrats
4 I Drink Bronze Light
5 Poem for Engagement
6 It Is Tuesday
7 Your Eyes Are the Color of a Lightbulb Floating in the Potomac River
8 Poem for Wisconsin
9 Poem for a Coin
10 Poem to a Cloud above a Statue
11 Poem for Massachusetts
12 To Sergio Franchi
13 Poem for Americans
1 III
1 Poem for Happiness
2 The Heart Is Not a Door
3 Poem for Russia with a White Plastic Wolf
4 Albert Einstein
5 Ode to Fluffy
6 Your Story
7 Poem for Lu Chi
8 Poem for a Vial of Nameless Perfume
9 Poem for Jack Spicer
10 Poem for Bill Cassidy
11 Telegraph Flowers
12 Poem for California
13 American Singer
About the Author
Books by Matthew Zapruder
Acknowledgments
Copyright
Special Thanks
I
Sun Bear
yesterday at the Oakland zoo
I was walking alone for a moment
past the enclosure holding the sun bear
also known as beruang madu
it looked at me without interest
it has powerful jaws and truly loves honey
it sleeps in a high hammock
its claws look made out of wood
and if it dreams at all it is of Malaysia
home of its enemy the clouded leopard
a gorgeous arboreal
hunting and eating machine
whose coat resembles a python
