Matthew Olzmann
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So these are the monuments.
And these are the faces of the inevitable.
And if I am made one of them, rendered
motionless, made
marble by the gorgon’s stare, then
help me celebrate the abrupt
tombstone my torso becomes.
I’ve never been this far from home.
I’ve never lifted my arms above
my head in victory as the rose petals
fell like sand. If I am never
to move again, let me never
take for granted
how I’ve been granted
this permanence, this patience
to stand forever—a stone
in this small corner of history—
among this statuary, able
to outlast birds, winged
horses and their riders.
Matthew Olzmann’s first collection of poems, Mezzanines (2013) was awarded a Kundiman Poetry Prize. His poems have appeared in Kenyon Review, New England Review, Gulf Coast and Rattle, among many other journals. A recipient of fellowships from Kundiman, the Kresge Arts Foundation and Bread Loaf, Olzmann currently teaches at Warren Wilson College and is co-editor of The Collagist.