nocturnal heritage by Roberto Harrison

March 11, 2015   nocturnal heritage   Roberto Harrison

then when they offered something of command, the night received them to confirm a change of season. they were not standing on the earth, or they remembered that the fields of rice would not harvest them, people of the ashes. their directions would not receive the ancient winds or the doorway to the past brought them firmly to the soil. they were often not known by number, and they were once attached to the after years of service. they did not announce themselves as their words would not serve the ashes. and they once had their memories grown for the fields of their pockets. no one could speak after they moved on the soil through the oceans            Copyright © 2015 by Roberto Harrison. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “This poem, framed by ritual and its ashes, reflects upon Panamá as a spiritual state beyond geographic borders and on its infinite animate and inanimate population with roots in every imaginable dimension.” —Roberto Harrison   Roberto Harrison’s new book bicycleis forthcoming from Noemi Press this year. He is also the author of Counter Daemons (Litmus Press, 2006) and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with his wife, the poet Brenda Cárdenas. Most Recent Book by Harrison   Counter Daemons (Litmus Press, 2006) "Ancestors" by Cesare Pavese "The Multitude" by Ellen Hinsey "On this Very Street in Belgrade" by Charles Simic Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006,Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.