Tag Archives: sommer browning

What Our World Lacks, We Lack

I think Sommer Browning is one of the most talented young poets writing, and I know I am being a Bad Feminist, but she’s also super pretty, which doesn’t even seem fair, because COME ON HER POEMS ARE REALLY GOOD TOO. Anyway, we follow each other on Twitter and I think she’s a riot.

What We Have

The earth’s crust
is like a cooking pancake
in a black iron skillet, exceptinstead of sitting on the stove
it shoots around the kitchen.
It’s amazing how sturdy it feels

on top, in our dim museums.
With just enough light to make out
a why, a what, and a how.

Ignoring how much we ignore,
like fish living in underground lakes ignore
ignoring their eyes to ignore the dark.

How desperate life is to live
that it shapes itself so readily to the world,
so that what our world lacks, we lack.