In Space
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- In Space
In space(the experimentsuggested by two fifth graders),a Canadian astronautwrings water out of a towel.
It stays by the towel,horizontaltransparent isinglass,a hyaline column.
Then begins to cover his hands,his wrists,stays on themuntil he passes it to another towel.
On earthsome who watch thisrecognize the wrung, irrational soul.
How it does not leavebut stays close,outside the cleaning twist-fate but close—
fear desire angerjoy irritationmourning
wet stuffthat is shining, that cannot go from us,having nowhere other to fall. [End Page 241]
Jane Hirshfield’s eighth poetry book, The Beauty, and second collection of essays, Ten Windows, will appear from Knopf in Spring, 2015. A current Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, she has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations and the NEA, and has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, The New Republic, and seven editions of The Best American Poetry.
