Ryo Yamaguchi

SATURATION #1

Here I am sweeping the colored dots into a pile.
Seizure as a point of reference. The crows overhead.
Bringing down a daylight as though
into the jaw or a story one has roughed out to explain
why one must practice such erect discomfort. A jar full.
Not nightmares but a clinging kind of sleep, a sense
of some vast, dark terrain, lights wired throughout
but kept off. It helps to have immediate needs.
Signage, air conditioning. Void is a peculiar word,
like an out-of-place friend, someone you’ve just introduced
to the afternoon. Suddenly, a pinkness. History
collapses. It’s very much like dragging the comforter
out onto the lawn. If you came inside with me
you’d swear, like I do, that my hands glow. That’s the part
I haven’t figured out yet.  

RYO YAMAGUCHI is the author of The Refusal of Suitors (Noemi Press). His poetry has appeared in such journals as American Poetry Review, Denver Quarterly, and Gulf Coast, and his book reviews and other critical writings can be found in such outlets as Kenyon Review and Michigan Quarterly Review.