Closer

Farid Matuk
December 19, 2024

Closer

If it’s freedom or Sunday morning Through which the iterations— UH-60 Black Hawk A-10 Warthog C-130E Hercules MH-60S Knighthawk HC-130J Combat King II E-3 Sentry E-6B Mercury EC-130H Compass Call F-4 Phantom F-16 Fighting Falcon F-22 Raptor B-25 Mitchell —fly closer, a clear sky, A perfect day Can be a backdrop so calm, Admitting no wind So, who’ll take that feeling With me Into the critique of feeling?

Farid Matuk’s work has been recognized by the 2023 Rabinowitz Prize from the Poetry Society of America, a Holloway Lectureship at UC Berkeley, and a 2024 USA Fellowship. His latest poetry collection, Moon Mirrored Indivisible, is forthcoming from University of Chicago Press.