Kay Ryan Poems

Nothing exists as a block
and cannot be parceled up.
So if nothing's ventured
it's not just talk;
...

To the dragon
any loss is total.
...

It is at the edges
that time
thins.
...

As though
the river were
...

Patience is wider
than one once envisioned,
...

The chickens are circling
and blotting out the day.
...

Say when rain
cannot make
you more wet
...

Everything contains some silence.
Noise gets its zest from the small
...

Death has a life
of  its own. See
how its album
has grown in
a year and how
the sharp blot of it
has softened
till those could
almost be shadows
behind the
cherry blossoms
in this shot.
In fact you
couldn't prove
they're not.
...

Extreme exertion
isolates a person
from help,
discovered Atlas.
Once a certain
shoulder-to-burden
ratio collapses,
there is so little
others can do:
they can't
lend a hand
with Brazil
and not stand
on Peru.
...