By Jorie Graham

The earth said

remember me.

The earth said

don’t let go,

said it one day

when I was

accidentally

listening, I

heard it, I felt it

like temperature,

all said in a

whisper—build to-

morrow, make right be-

fall, you are not

free, other scenes

are not taking

place, time is not filled,

time is not late, there is

a thing the emptiness

needs as you need

emptiness, it

shrinks from light again &

again, although all things

are present, a

fact a day a

bird that warps the

arithmetic of per-

fection with its

arc, passing again &

again in the evening

air, in the pre-

vailing wind, making no

mistake—yr in-

difference is yr

principal beauty

the mind says all the

time—I hear it—I

hear it every-

where. The earth

said remember

me. I am the

earth it said. Re-

member me.

• Nature

Poet Bio

Jorie Graham was born in New York City, but raised in France and Italy. She attended the Sorbonne before coming to America where she attended New York University to earn a B.F.A. and the University of Iowa to earn an M.F.A. She has taught at numerous universities, most recently the University of Iowa and Harvard. See More By This Poet

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