Q: What do you see as the future of poetry?
A: Oblivion.

Ever since I first noticed “my blood
setting out on its long journey beyond the skin”
I have been pondering that line.
I wrote it, sure, but

What the hell does it mean, you know?
Must be part of the dark speech of silence,
I guess.
But it’s here, and so are we.

So I keep rephrasing the question
Endlessly,
Hoping the answer might somehow change,
Becoming accessible.

Or at least that, you know,
It might make sense
One day.

The line in quotes is from a poem called “Buffalo Yoga.” ‘Nuff said. Some other lines are also from that poem, or from some other poems by Charles Wright. A few of those are also quoted in a book called “Understanding Charles Wright” which, obviously, I have not read. Other lines I made up.

The quoted language is from Daniel Cross Turner, “Oblivion’s Glow,” an interview with Charles Wright that appeared in the summer, 2005 issue of storySouth magazine

The image is a collage of Jim Marshall’s iconic photo of Johnny Cash from his 1969 gig at San Quentin State Prison, and Holly Wright’s photograph of poet (now laureate) Charles Wright.