Best US Poetry 2017

GREGORY ORR

Three Dark

Proverb Sonnets

000

1. 

None have done wrong who still

Have a tongue: even Cain

Can explain.

Yet every atrocity

Breeds its reciprocity:

No murder

That doesn't lead to further.

If I was in charge, those who

Praise rage would be made

To visit more graves.

Skulls

Annul. All knives should be dull.

And yet, once we'd built the coffin

We had no choice: we had to find a corpse. 

2. 

Watch the leopard, not its spots.

It's the tiger that strikes,

Not the stripes.

The smart hide their claws

In their paws, then add

Fur for allure.

Combining smiles and wiles

And calling it "style."

A sword has a point,

But a needle

Is sharper and cleaner-

Less mess, less evidence.

It was never just the arrow

We bowed to; it was also the bow.

3.

Remember: every fist

Began as an open hand.

Even a bridge is a ledge

If you stray to its edge.

You can lead a horse

To water, but

You can't make it drink.

You can guide a fool

To wisdom,

But you can't make him think.

You can close one eye to evil,

But you'd better not blink.

In the dark, adjust your eyes.

In the darker, your heart.

from Mississippi Review