Jim Harrison (1937–2016) published numerous books, including Legends of the Fall, Dalva, and Dead Man’s Float (Copper Canyon Press, 2016), his final poetry collection. His work has been translated into two dozen languages.

Photograph by Andy Anderson.

The Speed of Dark

by Jim Harrison

I have studied and become intimate
with the speed of darkness. It’s so fast
it’s always here. When the light withdraws
the dark comes from no place. It always lives
with us. Your heart and brain are black.
They never see the true light except in violence
or autopsy. Of course the brain can cast
its own blinding light that we wait for in a poem,

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