In the Absence of Clocks

by Jacob Shores-Arguello

Overview

In the fascinating collection of poems, In the Absence of Clocks, poet Jacob Shores-Arguello takes readers on an illuminating voyage through Ukrainian life. Set during the turmoil of the 2004 Orange Revolution, when the country trembled in the wake of political corruption and public outrage, Shores-Arguello’s lyrics of a revolution provide a glimpse into a world at once foreign and familiar.

Throughout the collection are the iconic images and myriad juxtapositions of Ukrainian life. wolves howling in the snow and bakers pounding early-morning loaves of bread; farmlands and cities alike rocked by political transformation; gypsies and protesters; opulent images of Byzantium and the concrete ghosts of Chernobyl—all meet here at the crossroads of East and West, democracy and communism, reality and mythology. As the narrator travels across the Ukraine, he does much more than cross the distances between Horlivka and Odessa or Kiev and the Black Sea. As the tides of change swirl around him, they mirror his own search for a cultural identity and history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780809331031
Publisher:	Southern Illinois University Press
Publication date:	12/18/2012
Series:	Crab Orchard Series in Poetry
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	72
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Jacob Shores-Arguello grew up in the United States and in Costa Rica.  He is the recipient of the Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship in Provincetown, the Dzanc Books ILP International Literature Award, and a Fulbright Fellowship to Ukraine.

Read an Excerpt

@font-face { font-family: "Calibri";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: 150%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.yiv605070684msonormal, li.yiv605070684msonormal, div.yiv605070684msonormal { margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

In the Absence of Clocks

Vilor, the baker’s son, sits on his stoop,

pours swept flour from one hand to the other.

A night of lightning has arrested the towers

of clockwork. Vilor waits to hear if they will

toll again. The dog-woman sleeps on the post

office steps with her harem, their long fur twists

into her gypsy scarves. Vilor smokes. Knows

each day is made of four distinct chambers.

The dogs know nothing of time, they whimper

and wait for passersby to come with coins.

Vilor, the baker’s son, dusts his hands.

Today, the village will be late for its bread.

He stands. Night-music. It is very early--

the morning, a hollow space in his body.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Finding the Old Family Farm 1

Ukraine

In the Absence of Clocks 5

Crimea, an Unexpected Freeze 6

On the Holiday for the Dead 7

Graduation Day 8

The Dogs 9

Childhoods 10

The New Clock Tower 11

Secret Police 12

Babushka Baba Yaga 13

A Brief History of Ukraine 14

North Toward Kiev

To Ukraine 17

Mapping the Republics of the Dead 18

Far South, an Unexpected Heat 19

The Danger in Leaving Her 20

Under the River Named God 21

Dear Father 22

Bread 23

Mountain Answers 24

Remains 25

A Crumbling Shroud Covers Reactor Number 4 26

Some Pilgrimage 27

Orange Revolution

Kiev 31

Revolution Comes to Kiev, Masha Comes to Kiev 32

Listening Device 33

Monument 34

The Orange Revolution 35

Masha in the Afternoon 36

Remember 37

Countrymen 38

Sex and the Orange Revolution 39

Baptism of Kiev 40

Revolution 41

Boundary Waters

Masha Back Home 45

Her Mother, Somehow Surprised 46

A New Economy, the Old Currency 47

Her Village, Once Starved until All the Animals and All the Bullets Were Gone 48

Ghost Sick 49

Violin and Sea 50

Untitled 51

Her Hair, Twin Braids of Dark Clove 52

Paradise 53

Come Back 54

What I Saw 55

Finding the Old Family Farm II 56

Summer 57