MATERIAL SHIFT
for Matthias Regan
thinking thru things
the material of it
what I thought
it would be was
more solid, more
like this voice is
almost an audible
pressure behind ear
drum—it's a click
thinking thru light
switches the ease
with which faucets
expect water
every thing broken
reveals its utility
a hammer bare to tang
returns to its
unhandleable lump
but not its purpose:
thru new verbs material
shifts as a mind
grapples not so much
with what it is but what
the word for it does
pressing against the ear
Topher Hemann grew up in rural New Hampshire, where he worked as a stonemason, landscaper and gardener. He graduated from the University of Chicago's MAPH program in 2006. He has lived in South Korea since 2007 and teaches in the College English Program at Seoul National University. His poems have recently appeared in The Cultural Society.