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Adam Clay

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Adam Clay

Adam Clay is the author of Stranger (Milkweed Editions, 2016). He teaches at the University of Illinois Springfield.

by this poet

poem
What Shines Does Not Always Need To
Adam Clay
2016

Because today we did not leave this world,
We now embody a prominence within it,
Even amidst its indifference to our actions,
Whether they be noiseless or not.
After all, nonsense is its own type of silence,
Lasting as long as the snow on your
Tongue. You wonder why each evening

2
poem
Scientific Method
Adam Clay
2012
Twenty-three percent when placed under
intense pressure did in fact kick
the door in. Soldiers creep on the other side
of the turn. Every little thing
is destined for ease. Music, be still.
Keep the mannequin secrets
to yourself. Remember a ladder
can take you both up and down.
The weather grows less stable
than
poem
Meditation for the Silence of Morning
Adam Clay
2016

I wake myself imagining the shape
of the day and where I will find

myself within it. Language is not often
in that shape,

but sentences survive somehow
through the islands of dark matter,

the negative space often more important
than the positive.

Imagine finding you look

2
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