Poem: by Dennis Nurske; by me (re: reading)

Estonian flag

At 8 p.m. tonight (9/20) I'll be reading at Baboo's Books, 242 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, with Dennis Nurske, who has published at least eight poetry collections, all very much worth reading.  He's from Estonia and Brooklyn, both strange and mysterious places.

I grabbed his Voices Over Water from my bookshelf (I have more but there is no order to my shelving), written in the voice of an Estonian couple who emigrate to Canada.

Tonight's reading is free and followed by a Q&A.

Surviving Partner

Satan tempted me
to his paradise of despair,
explaining that no one
would ever fathom my grief.
I refuted him, pointing out
that his world is full of windows,
broken cups and cracked mirrors,
and that the body propped in the barn
had been a cheating husband,
a man like the rest, not saved
or damned.  I was so stubborn
Lucifer grew afraid and left,
then my enemy was God's mercy
poured out second after second.
_______
Dennis Nurske in Voices Over Water


Let Me Ask You This

Have you ever had sex,
you know, where your skin is
a window open on a night of
many weathers one and another
howling round your breasts like
the burning god of Moses? Moses,
who’ll break stone tablets so
you get this night right.
___________
Sarah Sarai, in The Future Is Happy