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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
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
poem
Our Daily Becoming
Adam Clay
2014

Like animals moving daily
through the same open field,
it should be easier to distinguish
light from dark, fabrications

from memory, rain on a sliver
of grass from dew appearing
overnight. In these moments
of desperation, a sentence

serves as a halo, the moon

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
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