It might be possible to live in its valley,
Even so, time makes sure the desert
Will eventually overcome us all
Mounding up dunes of sand over sand,
Over mosque and home and temple too.
And then, once gone, a small flower.
“I do not ask of God that he should change anything in events themselves, but that he should change me in regard to things, so that I might have the power to create my own universe about me, to govern my dreams instead of enduring them.”
Gerard de Nerval as quoted by Arthur Symons
David Koehn has published poetry in 50 different publications including the New England Review, New York Quarterly, Alaska Quarterly Review, Rhino, Volt, and ZYZZYVA. A small collection of his poems, COIL, won the 1998 Midnight Sun Poetry Chapbook Contest, from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. And has been re-issued this year see: http://lulu.com/coil/
David’s prose appears in Jacket, New Hampshire Review, New York Quarterly, and elsewhere. David translates Latin poetry and was recently awarded a Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language Grant to lead a Catullus Translation Workshop/Reading at Hendrix University.