That nation unknown
Evan D. Williams & Farryl Last
Introduction
summer, false sea
shimmers the corners. light-keeper
first waking up, it was all earth gut
circular tunnel to the under
-world. rudderless, summer
swells the sky lens, again.
waking up it was gutted again, earth, first
day, before the first day,
starry marshland. come
sea to the false sea
edge. all things disappear, alloy of sand and
day, before the first day,
window backlit with
color. color replaced by light
then built things creeping up blank sky, unseamed.
at the level edge, lines.
window backlit with-
in a window. opened, released
seawater sweeps in the cup of a shell
in a hand’s cup. unsunk,
light falls sealessly
A Note on the Authors:
Evan D. Williams investigates the quandaries of the numinous and carnal self. Other recent photo series include Everything Material (a unique volume of salt prints in the collection of the Ruskin Library at Oxford University) and Panoramas (a photo-chapbook with poems by Jose Perez Beduya). He lives in Pony Hollow, New York.
Farryl Last is a writer and international educator. Her poetry has appeared in publications such as SAND Journal, Cream City Review, and Willow Springs. She is also the Assistant Director of Academic Programs at Columbia University’s Committee on Global Thought.