Fullness of Park, Fullness of Man / Liam Gerhart

It is good the park should be unkempt,
Evil with mosquitos, and hornet-loud;

It is good. There one’s clothes ought to
Twist up and prickle with the burrs.

It should be so lonely there, where
The jungle gym is a blackberry trellis,

And the world seems smacking its lips.
This is the image of earth that I prefer.

And this little butterflylessness
In a repletion of yellow butterflies—

The eye of a flurry of moths and dragonflies,
With hands in his pockets, his eyes down—

This is the image of man that I like best.
Only, he should feel a sinking. He should stop,

To feel it, while the goldenrod wags—
And he should remain still, even as the rain starts.

Liam Gerhart is the author of one book of poetry, Yellow Rintekelberg, and

has had his poems published in Rattle, The Ilanot Review, and Wild Roof Journal. He

is an adjunct professor of English literature at the University of Virginia.