The Beautiful Changes
One wading a Fall meadow finds on all sides
The Queen Anne’s Lace lying like lilies
On water; it glides
So from the walker, it turns
Dry grass to a lake, as the slightest shade of you
Valleys my mind in fabulous blue Lucernes.
The beautiful changes as a forest is changed
By a chameleon’s tuning his skin to it;
As a mantis, arranged
On a green leaf, grows
Into it, makes the leaf leafier, and proves
Any greenness is deeper than anyone knows.
Your hands hold roses always in a way that says
They are not only yours; the beautiful changes
In such kind ways,
Wishing ever to sunder
Things and things’ selves for a second finding, to lose
For a moment all that it touches back to wonder.
โRichard Wilbur
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About Joseph Spece
Solo volumes are ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ (Fathom, 2018) and ๐๐ค๐๐๐จ (Cherry Grove, 2013). Founding editor at Fathom Books and SHARKPACK imprints; degrees from Columbia University and Boston College. Publishing credits in ๐๐ค๐๐ฉ๐ง๐ฎ, ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐๐๐ผ๐, 3๐ผ๐, ๐๐ง๐๐๐ช๐๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ก๐ฎ, ๐ผ๐๐๐, ๐๐ค๐ก๐ฉ, and ๐ฝ๐๐จ๐ฉ ๐ผ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ก ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ; editing and reader credits in poetry, non-fiction, and fiction at ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐, ๐๐ค๐๐ก๐/๐๐๐จ ๐๐ฉ๐ง๐ก๐ฎ, and ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐จ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ, respectively. Writing fellowships from The Poetry Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Vermont Studio Center, and Massachusetts Cultural Council.
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