HOW MUCH TIME DO WE HAVE?

we stand at the edge of something unsayable /

sunlight against the surface of a lake /

I will undress in front of you but I am waiting for you to ask /

all the urgency of water /

cold of late afternoon /

at this point it’s going to take a miracle /

that was always true /

what dazzles more than a body /

what is more green than shadow /

chorus of birds /

twilit days of our twilight love affair /

lifelong camping trip /

what is such a day if not miracle /

mountains in the distance /

always mountains /

always distance

LIGHT POLLUTION

Are there stars where you are?
Yes.

No.
Sometimes?

How I miss those nights not lit by loss —
a darkness so clean that all we’ve held shines through.

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Amorak Huey is author of four books of poems including Dad Jokes from Late in the Patriarchy (Sundress, 2021). Co-founder with Han VanderHart of River River Books, Huey teaches at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He also is co-author with W. Todd Kaneko of the textbook Poetry: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2018).