Small Countries by Dennis Nurkse
Small Countries
Dennis NurkseA man and a woman
are lying together
listening to news of a war.
The radio dial
is the only light in the room.
Casualties are read out.
He thinks, “Those are people
I no longer have to love,”
and he touches her hair
and calls her name
but it sounds strange to her
like a stone left over
from a house already built.
MARGINALIA
I need to sleep.
ABOUT DENNIS NURKSE
Dennis Nurkse was born on December 13, 1949, in New Jersey, the son of Estonian economist Ragnar Nurkse. He received his BA from Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. Nurkse is the author of ten poetry collections, including, most recently, Love in the Last Days: After Tristan and Iseult (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017), and A Night in Brooklyn (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). Nurkse’s honors include awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Whiting Foundation, as well… (more)
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ENDNOTES
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