In the Forest of a Thousand Trees We Cannot Find Two Leaves Alike
I wake still lost in the woods of you,
in the would we of you —
we would, it seems. I know
you don’t love
secrets as I do but we are
alone in the forest of us
and always will be.
The path we followed
folded up behind us
in the night. We know
the sun has risen
by the new shadows around us,
by the shree of a nighthawk
starting its day.
Does a new path
appear ahead? It does not
matter for now, for now
we remain here, touching.
Dappled light
washes us green,
and clean, and new.
Morning in Early June and It’s Already Hot and So Are You
I want to stand in this newly mown field all day
and call your name three times
however many times it takes
until you appear
to grant me three wishes
wishes I would no longer need
once you have appeared
with my name on your lips
my lips on your name
I swear this distance between us
is a kind of violence
though perhaps without distance
there would be no such thing as desire
the air here smells of overripe berries
and drying grass
the sun heats my skin
past the point of pleasure
which my darling is how I know
how I know the field of want is real
From the Author: I don’t know if it’s a project yet, but I’ve been thinking about distance and intimacy and landscape lately, thinking about connection to place and how that might shape desire. Maybe there’s something magical in that. I don’t really know, but I’m hoping. Anyway, these poems come from Ohio. And hunger.
Amorak Huey is author of four books of poems including Dad Jokes from Late in the Patriarchy (Sundress Publications, 2021). Co-founder with Han VanderHart of River River Books, Huey teaches at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.