Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Paul Casey

International Citizen

International Citizen

International Citizen

The eyes are passports
as the eyes of wildcats bright beneath the moon
that say, we are from here

as oxygen water sun are
arctic tern, shearwater, sandpiper, godwit, wheatear
as monarch, the humpback are

the probing nostrils of newly acquainted
rhino, hundreds in the pitch black at lake rendezvous
from miles every which way

dawn leaves only footprints.
Ghosts in New York, Seoul, Damascus have mouths
that sound as birds or goats sound

Who drew these lines between us?
In the daylight, their busy heads control remote bodies
passport gazes set straight ahead

Close

International Citizen

The eyes are passports
as the eyes of wildcats bright beneath the moon
that say, we are from here

as oxygen water sun are
arctic tern, shearwater, sandpiper, godwit, wheatear
as monarch, the humpback are

the probing nostrils of newly acquainted
rhino, hundreds in the pitch black at lake rendezvous
from miles every which way

dawn leaves only footprints.
Ghosts in New York, Seoul, Damascus have mouths
that sound as birds or goats sound

Who drew these lines between us?
In the daylight, their busy heads control remote bodies
passport gazes set straight ahead

International Citizen

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Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
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Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
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Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
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