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By Paul Tran

Someone standing at the mouth had
the idea to enter. To go further


than light or language could
go. As they followed
the idea, light and language followed


like two wolves—panting, hearing themselves
panting. A shapeless scent
in the damp air …


Keep going, the idea said.


Someone kept going. Deeper and deeper, they saw
others had been there. Others had left


objects that couldn’t have found their way
there alone. Ocher-stained shells. Bird bones. Grounded
hematite. On the walls,


as if stepping into history, someone saw
their purpose: cows. Bulls. Bison. Deer. Horses—
some pregnant, some slaughtered.


The wild-
life seemed wild and alive, moving


when someone moved, casting their shadows
on the shadows stretching
in every direction. Keep going,


the idea said again. Go …


Someone continued. They followed the idea so far inside that
outside was another idea.


Source: Poetry (October 2019)

  • Arts & Sciences
  • Living
  • Nature

Poet Bio

Paul Tran
Paul Tran earned a BA from Brown University and an MFA in poetry from Washington University. Tran is the first Asian American since 1993 to win the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam, and has placed in the Top 10 at the Individual World Poetry Slam and has earned ninth, fifth, second place in three consecutive National Poetry Slams. They live in Missouri, where they are poetry editor at The Offing and the Senior Poetry Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis.  See More By This Poet

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