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Fugue for Eye and Vanishing Point

By Suji Kwock KimPosted Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2003, at 11:16 AM ET

Listen to Suji Kwock Kim reading this poem.


Give me the clarity, the sharpness
of a season when things are plainly
themselves. No smear of dreaming on the dirt.
Let my eye see without seeking more
than what's there, and find what is
is sweet. Bleach-fumes. Urine. Cement.
Bus-exhaust. Oil glittering on pistons.
Soiled needles wrapped in butcher paper.
Infinite engine trapped in skin.

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Suji Kwock Kim's first book, Notes From the Divided Country, won the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets. Her poems have been featured in The Nation, the New Republic, Paris Review, and on NPR's Weekend Edition and All Things Considered.
Click here to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.


To submit poetry to Slate, send up to five poems and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Robert Pinsky, Slate Magazine, Boston University, 236 Bay State Road, Boston, MA, 02215.
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