At times the blind see light
And that moment is the Sistine ceiling,

Grace among buildings—no one asks
For it, no one asks.

After all, this is solitude,
Daylight’s finger,

Blake’s angel
Parting willow leaves.

I should know better.
Get with the business

Of walking the lovely, satisfied,
Indifferent weather—

Bread baking
On Arthur Avenue

This first warm day of June.
I stand on the corner

For priceless seconds.
Now everything to me falls shadow.

—From Beauty Is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability, edited by Jennifer Bartlett, Sheila Black, and Michael Northen (Cinco Puntos Press, 2011); republished here by author’s permission and by arrangement with The Permissions Company, as quoted below:

—Stephen Kuusisto, “Borges: They Are Knocking the Wind out of Me in Iowa City” and “Letter to Borges from Estonia” from Letters to Borges. Copyright © 2013 by Stephen Kuusisto. “Only Bread, Only Light” from Only Bread, Only Light. Copyright © 2010 by Stephen Kuusisto. All used with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Copper Canyon Press: www.coppercanyonpress.org

Bio: Stephen Kuusisto