"Character Being a Different Thing from Beauty, Describe the Difference" by Carl Phillips

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
February 1, 2021  

Character Being a Different Thing from Beauty, Describe the Difference


Carl Phillips

                 And sometimes, yes, I’d beg for it—
           he’d make me beg: Shy moon, 
                      why shy tonight? 

I heard the geese before I saw them again this morning—
this time, flying north. Above them, thunderheads like doomed 
zeppelins, like whales when sounding, though they brought 
no rain. That’s how I used to write, insisting on ordinary things 
being somehow more than that, that they had to mean something, 
the way disruption can punctuate with meaning an established 

pattern, or as when finding out one’s silence has been mistaken 
for arrogance or, worse, indifference, when all you meant 
was to be kind—retreat, not exile; less the monsters, than 
how we lived beside them, our lives not leaves not trash on an 
updraft that at random carries them then refuses them, can a wind 
refuse. And yet… 

                        Shy moon --

As if doing what we’d always done were enough to be grateful for, 
as if to keep doing it were itself to be grateful. You just forgot, 
that’s all. It’s harder not to forget. How the yard gave way 
like a ragged imperative to a forest of scrub-pines and oak, mostly, 

how a stand of ferns there almost looked, from above, like a boat 
of shadows, coming at last unmoored, and the forest a sea—that 
endless-seeming, that steeped in night-dark, beg for it, why shy
tonight?

Copyright © 2021 by Carl Phillips. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 1, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.

Subscribe to the Poem-a-Day Podcast 

  

“To paraphrase from the poem itself, the fact and/or vanquishing of monsters—the monsters of memory, of our daily lives—seems less and less the point, compared to how to live with those monsters, the older I get and the more accepting of their insistence on settling in for the long haul. I hope the poem is both an example of that and a meditation on it.”
Carl Phillips

Carl Phillips is the author of Pale Colors in a Tall Field (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2020). He is a Professor of English at Washington University in Saint Louis.


Pale Colors in a Tall Field
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2020)


“Preamble” by Tonya M. Foster
read more
“Poem Dedicated to Spatola” by Amelia Rosselli
read more

Thanks to Rachel Eliza Griffiths, author of Seeing the Body (W. W. Norton, 2020), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read a Q&A about Griffiths’ curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year
This free, daily series is made possible by our readers. If you’re able, please consider donating to support this work.
Become a monthly sustainer
join
Make a one-time gift
donate
Copyright © 2021 The Academy of American Poets, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

Our mailing address is:
The Academy of American Poets
75 Maiden Lane
St #901
New York, NY 10038

Add us to your address book


View this email in your browser

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Older messages

"A Wish" by Joshua Henry Jones, Jr.

Sunday, January 31, 2021

When your joys are of the sweetest Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day January 31, 2021 A Wish Joshua Henry Jones, Jr. When your joys are of the sweetest And your heart is light and free;

"iced out chain from the beauty supply by Halsted Indoor Mall" by Nate Marshall

Friday, January 29, 2021

this one spins, / they all glitter / like a crush's toothy smile. Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day January 29, 2021 iced out chain from the beauty supply by Halsted Indoor Mall Nate

"under the chiming bell" by Jenny Zhang

Thursday, January 28, 2021

under the chiming bell / I learn to move as ghosts do Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day January 28, 2021 under the chiming bell Jenny Zhang under the chiming bell I learn to move as ghosts

"Surah" by Tarfia Faizullah

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

the falling paper flower / the plastic tree branch Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day January 27, 2021 Surah Tarfia Faizullah the falling paper flower the plastic tree branch the plight of

"Order of Events" by Phillip B. Williams

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

First, he taught us to use the dead as shawls Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day January 26, 2021 Order of Events Phillip B. Williams First, he taught us to use the dead as shawls in the

You Might Also Like

I’m Ditching My Jeans & Trying These Cooler Pants In 2025

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

The anti-denim trends taking over. The Zoe Report Daily The Zoe Report 12.23.2024 It's finally here. The week in which emails are set on vacation mode, sweatpants are the daily uniform, and eating

The Year Bisexuality Stopped Being a Punchline

Monday, December 23, 2024

Today in style, self, culture, and power. The Cut December 23, 2024 Presented by YEAR IN REVIEW The Year of the Bisexual Once a pop-culture punch line, bisexuals spiced up some of the year's

Blake Lively’s Cleavage-Baring Red Carpet Look Was Basically Chic PJs

Monday, December 23, 2024

Plus, Beyoncé's holiday twist on the cowboycore trend, your daily horoscope, and more. Dec. 23, 2024 Bustle Daily A front-row seat at the red-sauce ballet. FOOD A Front-Row Seat At The Red-Sauce

11 Different Kinds of Checking Accounts, Explained

Monday, December 23, 2024

How to Get a Free Car If You Can't Afford One. Not all checking accounts are created equal, and some are created for specific people. Not displaying correctly? View this newsletter online.

A Man's Hotel Is His Castle

Monday, December 23, 2024

A grand buffet to close out our visit to China earlier this year ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Lost my seat to… what now?

Monday, December 23, 2024

— Check out what we Skimm'd for you today December 23, 2024 Subscribe Read in browser Header Image But first: unlock more of what you love with a premium Skimm+ membership Update location or View

"2020 A Year to Forget" by Nancy Mercado

Monday, December 23, 2024

Earth put a roaring halt / to our empty rabid existence December 23, 2024 donate 2020 A Year to Forget Nancy Mercado Earth put a roaring halt to our empty rabid existence ceasing marathon plastic

And The #1 Hair Color Trend Of 2025 Will Be...

Monday, December 23, 2024

It's gorgeous. The Zoe Report Daily The Zoe Report 12.22.2024 And The #1 Hair Color Trend Of 2025 Will Be... (Hair) And The #1 Hair Color Trend Of 2025 Will Be... “New Year, New You!” Read More

5 Ways You Can Lose Your Social Security Benefits

Sunday, December 22, 2024

These Apps Can Help You Remotely Access Your Computer. Social security is a big part of most people's retirement plans. But there are ways to lose some—or all—of your benefits, so be careful out

The Weekly Wrap #192

Sunday, December 22, 2024

12.22.2024 ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏