Daniel Rzicznek — Buteo Syntax

Reading, Summer

In the green sunlight
beneath trees, I

imagine myself cut
down in an instant

by hundreds of
possible finales.

The word “in” is spoken
to keep immensity

out. Erasmus wrote:
“Called or not called,

God shall be there”
and it is carved (in

the original Latin) above
Carl Jung’s front door

in Switzerland, thousands
of miles from here.

F. Daniel Rzicznek is the author of three poetry collections, Settlers (forthcoming from Free Verse Editions/Parlor Press), Divination Machine (Free Verse Editions/Parlor Press) and Neck of the World (Utah State University Press), as well as four chapbooks, most recently Live Feeds (Epiphany Editions). He is coeditor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Prose Poetry: Contemporary Poets in Discussion and Practice (Rose Metal Press). His recent poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in West Branch, Willow Springs, Colorado Review, 32 Poems, TYPO, Terrain, The Collagist and elsewhere. Rzicznek teaches writing at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.