ARMANTROUT, Rae
Notice

Dressed all in plastic,
which means oil,

we’re bright-eyed, scrambling
for the colored cubes

spilled
on the rug’s polymer.

Inside each
is a tiny car.

When we can’t unscrew the tops
we cry for help.

We’re optimists. 

Notice is the product of a life-long interest in natural sciences by poet Rae Armantrout. The collection draws poems from her previous books calling our attention to how language frames and shapes our relationships to climate and kin. The title is a call to take heed of the signs coming to us daily. “Notice” can be read as a noun or a verb. As a noun it might be thought of as a public warning. The author has selected poems that respond in various ways to the environmental crisis which we all see developing and about which we don’t seem to be able to take appropriate action... [publishers’ note]

Published by Wesleyan University Press, 2024
Poetry / Chapbooks