Two Poems by Athena Kildegaard
"Fake Ambassadors of a Fake Unknown"
—René Magritte
Some things we know: that our fingernails
grow and grow, that we lose strength
as we age, etcetera. These are physical
evidences of a quantifiable world. And some
things are unknown and may remain so
forever. For example, what was the first
word ever spoken by Homo sapiens sapiens?
"Yes?" "No?" Or "eat," "shit." "Good?" "Me?" "Me?"
And surely there are things we don't know
but that we will no doubt find out. How
to die. When tomorrow's headache will pass.
So, the unknown unknowns, as a man
in a gray suit once enunciated. Those
will remain buried. For now, let a beautiful
woman wearing almost nothing jump
out of a cake. We'll eat with our hands.
Prairie Lament
Grain elevators connect sky
to ground.
Our eyes seek out
these monoliths
of metal and square letters
and do not
move beyond them.
Grain elevators
leave nothing to the imagination.
They are
unrooted and do not blossom.
They presume.
And we are fattened by them
into complacency.
Publishing Information
- “Fake Ambassadors of a Fake Unknown" is taken from René Magritte: Selected Writings, edited by Kathleen Rooney and Eric Plattner, University of Minnesota Press, 2016.
Art Information
- "Tate Liverpool—René Magritte 1" © Geoff Crossley; Creative Commons license.
- "Gold Field" © Kelly DuMar; used by permission.
Athena Kildegaard is the author of four books of poetry, and her fifth, Course, will appear in March 2018 from Tinderbox Editions. Her poems have been set to music, read by Garrison Keillor, and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Athena lives and teaches in Morris, Minnesota.
For more information, visit Athena Kildegaard's website.
