Astronomy: a comet in the night sky. Wood engraving, n.d. [c.1860?]

 

Some journeys never promise a return:

  You set out late, barefoot, at night,

    Through oblique hours

    Themselves in flight;

And there are journeys without ways at all:

  You pass through wastes of withered heath,

    Through arguments

    Like a comb’s teeth;

Then there are journeys that you cannot take:

  You chew raw flesh on both your thumbs,

    You tilt your glass

    And darkness comes.

Kevin Hart’s most recent collections of poems are Firefly (Pitt Street Poetry, 2026) and Carnets (Cascade Books, 2025). His memoir, Dark-Land: Memoir of a Secret Childhood, appeared in 2024 with Paul Dry Books. He teaches at Duke. 

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Published in the March 9, 2018 issue: View Contents

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