Patrick Barron

Each a Lapse

It’s not quantity
but counting
who could forget-forgo
let fall
these worries
loose as ankles
at sleep
or necklaces clinking
into a bowl
fingers pinching
restricting the flow
links each a lapse
or a pause
a reason that laps
against shores
foreheads crossed
with contagious notions
deities or fantasies
     lacunae
          woven
     wormed through
     by numbers
          obsessive numbers

Patrick Barron is an assistant professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. His books include Circle of Teeth: 55 Poems, Italian Environmental Literature: An Anthology, and The Selected Poetry and Prose of Andrea Zanzotto. His poetry, essays, and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in journals such as Poetry East, Ecopoetics, Two Lines, Paideuma, and The Argotist Online.