Niche

I sing for joy:

Your whole body is composed of nesting places
Your whole body is composed of nesting places
Your whole body is composed of nesting places
Your whole body is composed of nesting places
Your whole body is composed of nesting places
Your whole body is composed of nesting places
Your whole body is composed of nesting places
Your whole body is composed of nesting places
Keep me under the shadow of your wings
Keep me under the shadow of your wings
Keep me under the shadow of your wings
Keep me under the shadow of your wings
Keep me under the shadow of your wings
Keep me under the shadow of your wings

Copyright © 2024 by Anthony Vahni Capildeo. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 25, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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“The technique of erasure is often used to let light or air into a poem. Erasure can create blanks, riddles, or drifts. However, I wanted to do something different with ‘Niche.’ Page as featherbed. Page as clay. Luxurious screen that you can sink into. Body as columbarium. Body as cliff harboring birds. This is a loving poem wherein erasure and repetition, and the visual form, invite us to contemplate the warmth, solidity, pliability, and repose of the body. I’m thinking of San Juan de la Cruz here and lullabies.”
—Anthony Vahni Capildeo