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We Did Not Make Ourselves (excerpt)

Vandal Poem of the Day: February 12, 2016

by Michael Dickman

*

I didn’t make my brain

but I’m helping

to finish it

Carefully stacking up everything I made next to everything I ruined

in broad daylight in bright

brainlight

This morning I killed a fly

and didn’t lie down

next to the body

as we’re supposed to

We’re supposed to

Soon I’m going to wake up

Dogs

Trees

Stars

There is only this world and this world

What a relief

created

over and over

from The End of the WestFind it in the library

Copyright © 2009 Michael Dickman
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc.
on behalf of Copper Canyon Press.

Published in Michael Dickman Poems

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this (publication, website, exhibit, etc.) do not necessarily represent those of the Idaho Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.