Barry Silesky

Barry Silesky has published four collections of poetry: This Disease (University of Tampa), Greatest Hits (Pudding House), The New Tenants (Eye of the Comet), and One Thing That Can Save Us (Coffee House). He has also authored and published the biographies of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and John Gardner.

“The Orient Mine”

Smoked oysters, red wine, and Darla’s brown skin open to air in the middle of changing her shirt. I’m drinking whiskey, playing old songs— the one about the girl we want, the one who left. The woman outside watching the fire she built might not be as pretty, but her white dress and black hair dance in these mountains. The railroad strike is over, the harvest is coming north. All

Issue 9, January 2018

Barry Silesky

Barry Silesky has published four collections of poetry: This Disease (University of Tampa), Greatest Hits (Pudding House), The New Tenants (Eye of the Comet), and One Thing That Can Save Us (Coffee House). He has also authored and published the biographies of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and John Gardner.

“The Orient Mine”

Smoked oysters, red wine, and Darla’s brown skin open to air in the middle of changing her shirt. I’m drinking whiskey, playing old songs— the one about the girl we want, the one who left. The woman outside watching the fire she built might not be as pretty, but her white dress and black hair dance in these mountains. The railroad strike is over, the harvest is coming north. All

Issue 9, January 2018

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