Excerpt of From Another Day by Alex Lemon

XI

an unnamable glut twirls
through my blood

I watch fingertips of light
shear the murk toward noon

the rain turning velvet soft
the day ungloving suddenly

inside out with sunshine
that tangerines the puddles

pulpy & abuzz
with storm gatherings

inside me there is a clump of pearls
an unquenchable want

to take in as much as possible
before the air heaves immense

from me
cavernous & unbreathable

before this wet earth before
these hands this sickness before

me sickles of light in the air
everywhere sliced with sun

Alex Lemon’s Another Last Day will be published this spring by Milkweed Editions. He has published four poetry collections: Mosquito, Hallelujah Blackout, Fancy Beasts, and The Wish Book and two books of creative nonfiction, Happy: A Memoir and Feverland: A Memoir in Shards. He lives in Texas and teaches at TCU.