Michael Bazzett’s fifth book of poems, The Echo Chamber, is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in 2021. His work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, The Sun, The Threepenny Review and Tin House and his verse translation of the Mayan creation epic, The Popol Vuh, (Milkweed, 2018) was named one of 2018’s ten best books of poetry by the NY Times. He lives in Minneapolis. You can find him here.
All work
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This is how I study history. I go there./
I see the sights and smell the smells/
which often entail fresh/
dung, spring/
rain, and copious animal odors.
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The fineness of the line draws you in: /
ink made from the soot of charred bones, /
furred shadows soft beneath the trees. …
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There has been plenty of musing aloud in the camp /
but little conversation. No one has ever accused /
a gymnasium of ambiance. …
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Everybody’s enthralled by the mermaids, silken breasts like plums /
dropped from the heaving branch and lost forever to the green sea. /
Believe me I understand the attraction, having swum with several. …
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I was waiting for a possible bus. I wasn’t certain of its arrival, /
but the stone wall and the small birds seemed enough for now. …
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