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August 29, 2018
[Blur](
[H. L. Hix](
Turns out lots of lines prove blurry I once thought sharp.
Some blur from further away, some from closer in.
Plant/animal, for instance. On which side, and why,
the sessile polyps, corals and sea anemones?
Same problem saying why my self must be internal.
Where do I see those finches glinting at the feeder?
To experience the is-ness of what is,
Iâd need to locate the here-ness of whatâs here.
Or be located by it. Or share location with it.
Thereâs a line I want to blur: between my senses
and my self. And another: between my senses
and the world. That anemone looks more like a lily
than an appaloosa. Looks, and acts. I feel that fizz
of finches sparkle on my tongue, the back of my throat.
I donât say these words until I hear them. My voice
visits. Is visitation. I would choose the role
of visitor over visited, if I got to choose.
Those finches trill and warble in sequences of phrases.
I can tell thereâs pattern, but not what the pattern is.
I can say I hear them (I do hear them) in my sleep,
but I canât say what that means. Their twitters and chirps
start early, before I wake. I can say they chatter all day
(they do), when Iâm hearing them and when Iâm not,
but I canât say how I know that. The back of my hand
always feels as if itâs just been lightly touched.
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Copyright © 2018 H. L. Hix. Used with permission of the author.
[H. L. Hix reads "Blur."](
About This Poem
ââBlurâ is from a sequence of poems that draw on the earth sciences, each poem provoked by a landmark book or paper. The stanzas in the poems end with a word from one sentence in the related text; in âBlurâ the sentence is from Aristotleâs History of Animals: âAs to the parts internal and external that all animals are furnished withal, and further as to the senses, to voice, and sleep, and the duality of sex, all these topics have now been touched upon.â Our having entered the âAnthropoceneââan era in which human activity is affecting the planetary ecosystem to a greater degree than ever beforeâmakes it urgent that the various languages we use to understand ourselves and our world be kept in contact with one another. Putting the languages of science and of poetry in contact moves us toward a healthier, more mutually beneficial âdialogueâ between humanity and our natural environment.â
âH. L. Hix
[H. L. Hix](
H. L. Hix is the author of Rain Inscription (Etruscan Press, 2017), and American Anger (Etruscan Press, 2016). He teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Fairleigh Dickinson University and lives in Laramie, Wyoming.
Photo credit: Nancy M. Stuart
[Rain Inscription](
Poetry by Hix
[Rain Inscription](
(Etruscan Press, 2017)
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