The Mayfly: May 12, 1864

Abstract

The Mayfly: May 12, 1864 Geoffrey Brock (bio) Geoffrey Brock, poetry after Miroslav Holub Having risen from a branch of the Ni Riverduring a lull in the Battle of Spotsylvania,she settled on the blue upper lip of a deadConfederate corporal, weary. As Union troops began their fifth assault on Laurel Hillshe began to molt, her cloudy wingsclearing with the weather, her spectral bodybrightening and swelling, as if the life spilling from the ephemeral creatures around herwere filling her. Soon, she rose again,joining the sudden frenzied cloud of her kindcongregating then above the creek's fizzing waters, their wings ten thousand leadedwindows pierced by an angling evening sun. [End Page 64] Geoffrey Brock geoffrey brock is the author of two poetry collections, the editor of The FSG Book of 20th-Century Italian Poetry, and the translator of numerous volumes of Italian poetry and prose. He teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Translation at the University of Arkansas, where he founded and edits The Arkansas International. Copyright © 2019 The Massachusetts Review, Inc.