Rilke’s Last Poem | Arts + Literature Laboratory | Madison Contemporary Arts Center

Rilke’s Last Poem

I have become a mirror. 

That outside of me is reflected
Fully within. Then, rearranged. 

Apples ripened by the sun’s light,
Oranges asleep beside the moon,
Guavas whitened among the clouds, 

Are here, within my heart.
But the reflections shift and dance.

Clouds seep out of guavas. 

Drunk from the sun, apples
Fling their green and red
Dresses to the ground.

And, peeling an orange,
I untie from the moon
A bright yellow scarf.

About the Author

Abayomi Animashaun poet

Abayomi Animashaun is the author of three poetry collections and editor of three anthologies. A member of the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, he teaches at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

 


April 2021

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