“Every night/A lover be”
Circumference circumvented
Thou Bridegroom of Awe
Lost perspective
Beneath the wat’ry floor
Every Knight
Opposed to thee
Every night
A lover be
Elemental world
Of water or air
Comes into its own
Possessed of despair
Circumference exalted—
It cannot be
Stateless Emperor
Of lunacy.
Norman Finkelstein is a poet, critic, and Emeritus Professor of English at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he has lived since 1980. He is the author of 13 books of poetry and seven books of literary criticism. He has written extensively about modern poetry and Jewish literature. His most recent publications are a book of poems, Further Adventures, which was released with Dos Madres Press in 2023, as well as a volume of selected essays, To Go Into the Words, which was released with University of Michigan Press in 2023. He writes and edits the poetry review blog Restless Messengers. More about Finkelstein and his work can be found at his website and at the Poetry Foundation.
