[In the heart of the canyon was the cause of the canyon]

In the heart of the canyon was the cause of the canyon.
In the canyon of the heart was the cause of the canyon.

Water traveling a gradient, my heart traveling a gradient.
That the canyon walls amplified the sound was but a fact.

That the fact stilled my heart was but an amplification
of a moment never to be measured in minutes for minutes

do not consider the fluidity of experience. In myself, a canyon.
In the canyon, a self. The surface of the water gossiping

about what goes on below. Under the song, another song.
In the cause of the canyon was the source of my heart.

Days will erode the parts of you never meant to last.
In the cause of the canyon was the source of my heart.

Matthew Nienow is a poet and ship builder living in Port Townsend, Washington. His poems have appeared in Poetry, New England Review, Southwest Review, Narrative and Crazyhorse, among many other journals. His work has twice been anthologized in Best New Poets (2007, 2012) and has earned him awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Elizabeth George Foundation and Artist Trust. He was named a 2013 Ruth Lilly Fellow by the Poetry Foundation.