Sunfall on the Sierra
/Kimberly Gibson-Tran
Sunfall on the Sierra
after Galway Kinnell
Out of the blue ferns, a pale half-face
turns to grasp the lid of the horizon.
Warmth wetting clay, the man
quits braying from a gash at the throat.
In stillness, the shiver of leaves,
a whimper. The bear, quieting
hump, fades to a linger of meat-breath.
Rump to rump they lay waiting
for the rest of that poetry to leave
them: ghost man, ghost bear.
On the hill’s crooked blade wolves
tune their toothy mouths to O, serenade.
Author’s Note: I'm fascinated by poetic influences and apprompted poems. In fact, I wrote my linguistics master's thesis "Lines by Someone Else" about the risks poets take by referencing a text connection with a predecessor. We all come "after" others, and these three poems represent conversations I've had with "Spider Crystal Ascension" by Charles Wright, "The Bear," by Galway Kinnell, and Richard Hugo's classic training manual for young poets: The Triggering Town. I feel so deeply about these works. They keep speaking to me, and I keep trying to answer. I don't mind if my signalling the text connections makes my poems seem less original--that's part of the bargain of declaring an influence. I hope I'm creating a tempting opportunity for the reader to fall in love with them too.
Kimberly Gibson-Tran has writing appearing or forthcoming in The Bombay Literary Magazine, Passages North, Third Coast, Dunes Review, Reed Magazine, Rowayat, Jelly Squid, Saranac Review, Thin Air Magazine, Saw Palm, and elsewhere. Raised in Thailand, she now lives in Princeton, Texas, and works in college counseling.
