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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.


Source: Poetry (January 2020)

  • Nature

Poet Bio

Jorie Graham
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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