The Wine-Dark Sea

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Published by Sidebrow Books P.O. Box 86921 Portland, OR 97286 sidebrow@sidebrow.net www.sidebrow.net Š2016 by Mathias Svalina All rights reserved Cover art by Josh Keyes Cover design by Jason & Felix Snyder Book design by Jason Snyder ISBN: 1-940090-05-9 ISBN-13: 978-1-940090-05-4 first edition

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first printing

987654321 s i d e b ro w b o o k s 0 16 p r i n t e d i n t h e u n i t e d s tat e s

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THE WINE-DARK SEA MATH IAS S VAL INA

sidebrow books • 2 0 1 6 • portla nd & san francisco



The Wine-Dark Sea................................1 The Wine-Dark Sea................................2 The Wine-Dark Sea................................3 The Wine-Dark Sea................................4 The Wine-Dark Sea................................5 The Wine-Dark Sea................................6 The Wine-Dark Sea................................7 The Wine-Dark Sea................................8 The Wine-Dark Sea................................9 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................10 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................11 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................12 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................13 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................14 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................15 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................16 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................17 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................18 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................19 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................20 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................21 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................22 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................23 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................24 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................25 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................26 The Wine-Dark Sea..............................27


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for Selah Saterstrom



It is a convenience not to fear the dark. —Diogenes (tr. Guy Davenport)



T h e W ine -Da r k S e a

Knowing suffering is a liturgy. Knowing the eyeless we grow more eyes. Just think: your own hand is always awake. I want to show you what I saw in the glass. Let’s unbury everything clotted with nests.

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T h e W ine -Da r k S e a

I am trying to be simple as ink. I talk to you sometimes in the daylight. At night I try not to suspend. There is so much I can’t form that is true. Celan said this to Ilana Shmueli: Through you I translate you over to me.

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T h e W ine -Da r k S e a

I want what the date wants from its box, printed in lip. The concerto cast a morning beneath bridges where ropes dangle. I cannot stand inside myself. What emerged when I opened my mouth was a thanking tomb. So we tremble. Do we tremble? We tremble.

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T h e W ine -Da r k S e a

Asking is easy for a number. Words are burdens. Mouths lumber. I should not be afraid of myself: a little perpetuity with arms, a comb with teeth bent back. Around me the white draws a ring, a one.

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T h e W ine -Da r k S e a

The hum, yes, that corruption. That rot at play. Beneath me, Easter. Meanwhile, a PO box.

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T h e W ine -Da r k S e a

I almost died like a letter never posted. Glue brittle. I needed it later but by then each word quivered in quotation marks.

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T h e W ine -Da r k S e a

I breathe with gate & I breathe with light & not only with it. This is repetition. I breathe the uninterruptible law of no money that we really love.

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T h e W ine -Da r k S e a

So close to the river trucks & insects combine. In the river I’d be a difference, orange plastic bag, a catalog. each morning moonceasing.

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