Cold Pastoral. Rebecca Dunham

      

       ALSO BY REBECCA DUNHAM

       The Flight Cage

       The Miniature Room

       Glass Armonica

      ©2017, Text by Rebecca Dunham

      All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415.

      [phone]

       www.milkweed.org

      Published 2017 by Milkweed Editions

      Printed in the United States of America

      Cover design by Gretchen Achilles

      Cover photo by Carrie Vonderhaar / Ocean Futures Society / National Geographic Creative

      Author photo by Amanda Crim / Second Nature Photography

      17 18 19 20 21 5 4 3 2 1

       First Edition

      Milkweed Editions, an independent nonprofit publisher, gratefully acknowledges sustaining support from the Jerome Foundation; the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation; the McKnight Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Target Foundation; and other generous contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. Also, this activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation. For a full listing of Milkweed Editions supporters, please visit www.milkweed.org.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Dunham, Rebecca, 1973- author.

      Title: Cold pastoral : poems / Rebecca Dunham.

      Description: Minneapolis : Milkweed Editions, 2017.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2016029440 (print) | LCCN 2016037781 (ebook) | ISBN 9781571314789 (softcover) | ISBN 9781571319395 (e-book)

      Subjects: | BISAC: POETRY / American / General.

      Classification: LCC PS3604.U54 A6 2017 (print) | LCC PS3604.U54 (ebook) | DDC 811/.6--dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016029440

      Milkweed Editions is committed to ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book production practices with this principle, and to reduce the impact of our operations in the environment. We are a member of the Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the world’s endangered forests and conserve natural resources. Cold Pastoral was printed on acid-free 30% postconsumer-waste paper by Versa Press.

       CONTENTS

        Title Page

        Copyright

      1  Mnemosyne to the Poet

      1  Elegy, Wind-Whipped

      2  Atavism at Twilight

      3  Black Horizon

      4  In Which She Opens the Box

      5  Elegy, Sung in Dirt

      6  Mud

      7  Field Note, 2011

      8  Et in Arcadia Ego

      9  Suburban Elegy

      10  Field Note, 2011

      11  Initial Exploration Report: Macondo Well

      12  Blowout

      13  To Walk on Air

      14  Elegy for the Eleven

      15  Daybreak

      16  There Lies the Hydra

      17  To Narcissus

      18  Backyard Pastoral

      19  In Which She Considers the Water

      20  Elegy, a Catalogue

      21  Field Note, 2011

      22  Elegy Written in Oil

      1  A Hive of Boxes

        Acknowledgments

        About the Author

       Carry abroad the urgent need, the scene,

       to photograph and to extend the voice,

       to speak this meaning.

       Voices to speak to us directly.

       —MURIEL RUKEYSER,

      “The Book of the Dead”

MNEMOSYNE TO THE POET

      For you, memory is but

      an oil lamp to snuff, left to

      smoke. Diademed by earth’s

      velvet mantle. So easy

      for you to ignore: hadal