{"id":35695,"date":"2018-05-06T15:02:45","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T21:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=35695"},"modified":"2018-09-11T09:33:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T15:33:00","slug":"clifton-h-jolley-four-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/clifton-h-jolley-four-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"Clifton H. Jolley: Four Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/a>READ LOCAL First<\/strong>\u00a0represents Utah\u2019s\u00a0most comprehensive collection of\u00a0celebrated and promising writers of fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction, and memoir. This week we bring you four previously unpublished poems by Clifton H. Jolley. A widely published poet and essayist, Jolley\u00a0joins\u00a0Utah Poet Laureate Paisley Rekdal and former Utah Poet Laureate Katharine Coles, among many others,\u00a0as part of our READ LOCAL First series. Enjoy. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Explosion and the Decline of Periodic Style<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From the Latin: explosio,\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n

which is not to detonate<\/h4>\n

but\u00a0to frighten away<\/h4>\n

by clapping,\u00a0from\u00a0explodere<\/em><\/h4>\n

as in clapping away birds.<\/h4>\n

To drive away birds.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are no birds in Aleppo,<\/h4>\n

trees blasted to ruined timber,<\/h4>\n

buildings returned to sand and shard<\/h4>\n

by clapping louder than dreams<\/h4>\n

of noise, beginning without knowing<\/h4>\n

more than 2,000 years since Cicero.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chinese black powder, invented<\/h4>\n

by Taoists, \u00a0Immortalists. Less long<\/h4>\n

than Greek Fire but more immediate.<\/h4>\n

A disease not invented by disease.<\/h4>\n

More one clap than leprosy<\/h4>\n

but of similar result: the canker\u2014<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

birdless suburbs, streets absent trees.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

Mount Ogden<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Runners from the trailhead to the path and shore<\/h4>\n

of a prehistoric salt sea, nod or do not nod hello<\/h4>\n

as they come and come to go and go.<\/h4>\n

This indecision as to what is so<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

surrenders to the confusion of not knowing<\/h4>\n

a better way to be confused.\u00a0 We are rowing<\/h4>\n

in the air where once great fishes were soaring<\/h4>\n

over deserts yet to be, while I am pouring<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

words into my phone, hoping text from speech<\/h4>\n

will make sentences knowable enough to speak.<\/h4>\n

Athleticism today is dumb, but of sufficient speed.<\/h4>\n

I nod and move along the trail to an ill-conceived<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

and ruined hotel, charred timbers rotted to loam,<\/h4>\n

the chimney scattered\u2014returned to field stone\u2014<\/h4>\n

the iron boiler rusted through, useless, its own<\/h4>\n

testament, unable to remember come from go.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nez Perce
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Coyote made the First People<\/h4>\n

from the blood of a monster<\/h4>\n

whose name is not known,<\/h4>\n

the only word Coyote said<\/h4>\n

when done was, \u201cEnough.\u201d<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

And it was.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

Nothing more is remembered<\/h4>\n

by the songs The People remember<\/h4>\n

or by the people who came after,<\/h4>\n

white as a tooth with no blood in it<\/h4>\n

and more terrible than original blood.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

Borderland<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/h4>\n

I\u2019ve seen the pictures, so I know:<\/h4>\n

No one goes without hesitation;<\/h4>\n

at the end, everybody wonders,<\/h4>\n

regardless resolution.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

I\u2019ve lost the gift for metaphor,<\/h4>\n

rummage among words as though<\/h4>\n

they were wrenches, the hard utility<\/h4>\n

of a job requiring the right tool,<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

and saw myself caught on video<\/h4>\n

by the newly installed security\u2019s watching<\/h4>\n

an old man in old clothes, hunchingly.<\/h4>\n

(I\u2019ve seen the pictures, so I know.)<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

No one comes without reservation<\/h4>\n

to this place so at the end of else.<\/h4>\n

Everyone wonders whether they have<\/h4>\n

packed the right clothes (does it snow?)<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

whether they were the right resolutions<\/h4>\n

and whether they were right to say so.<\/h4>\n

Everyone fears being caught on video,<\/h4>\n

the insecurity of not wanting to know:<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

There is no secure system.<\/h4>\n

At the end, everyone wonders<\/h4>\n

whether the rules were metaphor,<\/h4>\n

whether there were correct tools,<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 whether anyone was right to say so.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019ve seen the pictures. I know.<\/h4>\n

Clifton H. Jolley has published poems and essays in the\u00a0New York Times, Western Folklore Quarterly, Utah Historical Quarterly, Mountainwest, Dialogue, Sunstone, Deseret News, Ensign, Salt Lake Tribune,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Huffington Post.\u00a0<\/em>His documentaries have been nominated for regional Emmys. His essays have been awarded by the Associated Press and are collected in the book\u00a0Children\u2019s Voices.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

READ LOCAL First\u00a0represents Utah\u2019s\u00a0most comprehensive collection of\u00a0celebrated and promising writers of fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction, and memoir. This week we bring you four previously unpublished poems by Clifton H. Jolley. A widely published poet and essayist, Jolley\u00a0joins\u00a0Utah Poet Laureate Paisley Rekdal and former Utah Poet Laureate Katharine Coles, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1566,"featured_media":36952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,2513],"tags":[3105],"class_list":["post-35695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-literary-arts","category-read-local-first","tag-clifton-h-jolley"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/clifton_jolley.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 05:38:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35695"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36953,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35695\/revisions\/36953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}