Poetry Inspired by Springtide


Louise Bourgeois, Page from Ode â l'Oubli (Ode to Forgetfulness) (detail), 2004, Hand-sewn and constructed cloth with lithography and digital printing, 10 3/4 x 13 1/4 inches bound book, Courtesy Peter Blum Gallery

oh here by nick flynn

are his teeth, now
lodged in my head, oh here

is his scrawl, coming out of
my hand

& here is a thought
that passed through his

mind, when I open

my mouth he never
shuts up. Once was

a spider, exploded

inside him, once was a hole
no shovel to fill. Oh here

is the jacket that held him
together, & here are

his breasts, sagging off of
my chest. The jacket he

wore, attempting

to nurse me, the bruise of
his nipple, un-

buttoned his heart. Oh
here is his box, but he's only

sleeping, I'll take you
some night, I'll show you

his spots, I'll buy you
a token, we'll ride under-

ground, I'll show you a tooth
the last I could find, I'll

show you a stain, it proves
he was here.

Nick Flynn
(b. 1960, Scituate, MA; lives in Houston, TX and Athens, NY). Currently the Assistant Professor of English at the University of Houston, Flynn's recent publications include Blind Huber: Poems (Graywolf Press, 2002,) his second collection, and Another Bullshit Night in Suck City: A Memoir (W. W. Norton & Co., 2004) about his father and homelessness.


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