From the Desk of the Poet:

This is one of the rare poems that mostly tells the truth, in regard to how and when it was written: I had recently read that fantastic piece from Charles Wright, and I went outside to the balcony of my apartment to relax, and potentially (hopefully) write. The poem was not quite written in one go, but the line edits I did make were mostly made to shorten the later stanzas and to strip down the language, as both Wang Wei and Wright would have cautioned. It is both harder and easier to write a poem ‘after’ another poet such as this. Easier because there is already some clay on the table, and images to respond to; harder because of the pressure of ‘living up to’ the original piece, and in the effort it takes to avoid making a kind of carbon copy of whatever inspired the piece. I am lucky that it all came together for this poem. I hope you enjoy it. 

Joshua grew up on the Oregon Coast, and studied poetry and philosophy at Linfield University. He teaches English and Creative Writing in Portland, Oregon.