Space Struck
The playfulness and creative flourishes showcase the poet having the time of their life in crafting this debut. Recipient of the Editor’s Award in Poetry from The Florida Review, Paige Lewis’s work has appeared in Ploughshares, Poetry, American Poetry Review, and Best New Poets 2017.
BECAUSE THE COLOR
IS HALF THE TASTE
it’s a shame to eat blackberries in the dark,
but that’s exactly what I’m up to when a man
startles down the street screaming, The fourth
dimension is not time! He makes me feel stupid
and it’s hard to sleep knowing so little
about everything, so I enroll in a night class
where I learn the universe is an arrow
without end and it asks only one question:
How dare you? I recite it in bed, How dare
you? How dare you? But still I can’t find sleep.
So I go out where winter is and roll
around in the snow until a sharp rock
meets the vulnerable plush of my belly.
A little blood. Hunched over, I must look
like I’m hiding something I don’t want to share
And I suppose that’s true—the sharp,
the warm wet. The color is half the pain. Why
would anyone else want to see? How dare they?
Reviewed by
Matt Sutherland
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
