Notched out
on this crust of field—in the day
that comes after us,
where you saw the earth
almost happen again: the echoing
furrows have closed,
and for this one-more-life have ransomed you
against the avid murmur
of scythes. Count me along, then,
with your words. Nothing,
even on this day, will change.
Shoulder
to shoulder with dust, before
the blade and beyond
the tall dry grass
that veers with me, I am the air’s
stammered relic.
__________________________________
“Scribe” by Paul Auster is excerpted from White Spaces, copyright © 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1982, 2020 by Paul Auster. Use by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
Paul Auster
Paul Auster is the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Winter Journal, Sunset Park, Invisible, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. He has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature, the Prix Médicis Étranger, the Independent Spirit Award, and the Premio Napoli. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
