Celebrate 30 years of the OA.

With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.

BECOME A MEMBER Shop Login

Discipline

First thought: the speckled darkness 
was a storm’s arrival shocking birds
from their perches. 

Second thought: not birds, suddenly up,
but a hand across, five digits their own
five violences:
          betrayal, velocity, bloodtooth, quiver, “will he return?”


Then thinking itself became uncanny.


Cheek forced to blush, head still
thrown awry as though from pleasure,
such that pleasure was refashioned: storm, feathers, vast blur.

Phillip B. Williams reads “Discipline”

Unable to embed Rapid1Pixelout audio player. Please double check that:  1)You have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.  2)This web page does not have any fatal Javascript errors.  3)The audio-player.js file of Rapid1Pixelout has been included.


Enjoy this poem? Subscribe to the Oxford American