Poems

I was struck today by this passage from Ocean Vuong’s poem “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong”:


Ocean, 

get up. The most beautiful part of your body 

is where it’s headed. & remember, 

loneliness is still time spent 

with the world. Here’s 

the room with everyone in it. 

Your dead friends passing 

through you like wind 

through a wind chime. Here’s a desk 

with the gimp leg & a brick 

to make it last. Yes, here’s a room 

so warm & blood-close, 

I swear, you will wake— 

& mistake these walls 

for skin.