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Poem by Michael S. Begnal

Eyewear is very glad to welcome Michael S. Begnal (pictured) this week - a week in which I returned from Galway, Ireland, where for so long he worked and wrote and was such a a poetic influence. This is something of a milestone, as he is also our 151st featured poet!

Begnal is the author of three poetry collections - in reverse chronological order: Ancestor Worship (Salmon, 2007), Mercury, the Dime (Six Gallery Press, 2005), and The Lakes of Coma (Six Gallery Press, 2003).

He is included in the anthologies Breaking the Skin: New Irish Poetry (Black Mountain Press, 2002) and, in the Irish language, Go Nuige Seo (Coiscéim, 2004, 2005). He is also included in the essay collection, Avant-Post: The Avant-Garde under “Post-” Conditions (Litteraria Pragensia, 2006), and edited Honeysuckle, Honeyjuice: A Tribute to James Liddy (Arlen House, 2006). Begnal was also formerly the editor of the Galway, Ireland-based literary magazine, The Burning Bush (1998-2004).


The Fluctuations

THE FLUCTUATIONS are real,
they warp you sere & black,
they sear you from the inside
that part of the body

the FLUCTUATIONS,
a transmigration of soul,
lost genealogies, rocky estuary, the Iron Language,
rain, a structuring gloom — GONE

the fluctuations/
(running through the trenches)
a torrent in a dark room, breath pouring through,
alone in that room don’t know how again

(it’s the fluctuations)
the zephyrs in the night,
the curtains blowing in somebody else’s window,
the charry dry alleys

death & loss dripping from eyes,
death & loss seeping from lungs,
death & loss in your twisted black guts like shit,
in the stark stochastic scald


poem by Michael S. Begnal

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Comments

Anonymous said…
A great poem and a great site.Thanks for guiding me here. Liam MacS.
Fri Mar 20, 10:58:00 pm 2009
Sheila said…
I was at a dinner party last night and the talk turned to poetry. Someone asked why the Irish had so many great poets and an Irishman answered that it was because the Irish have nothing but their language. I'm thinking about this. Meanwhile, Thank you for directing me to Michael Begnal.
Sun Mar 22, 11:13:00 pm 2009
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