The Persistence of Magic by Elaine Equi
A long corridor
is lit with candles
in all kinds of jars
of different sizes,
different colors.
*
Young men and women
wearing nothing but white paint
sit in a circle
while a couple
in the center
wrestle dances.
*
Going further,
some actors are letting
their facial and body hair
grow back for a film.
One celebrity shows off
his furry ass.
*
Teaching: I ask
how many people
have spoken to someone
who was actually listening?
I ask them to remember what it was like.
Elaine Equi teaches creative writing in the Master of Fine Arts programs at City College of New York and The New School. Widely published, her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, and numerous volumes of The Best American Poetry. Coffee House Press has published many of her books; in 2007 they published Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems.