Rauan Klassnik was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and spent most of his life in Dallas, TX. He currently lives in Mexico. Rauan's poems have appeared in numerous online and print journals and his first book, Holy Land was released in April, 2008 by Black Ocean Press.

Two Poems

All the Stars You Can Swallow

Have you seen what’s done with geese? Let’s take a week off. Drive. They collar them. Latch them on to a wheel. And when they spin it, it shaves each head off. The swallows are feeding their babies. Like mice. Or moths. Paintings of rabbits hanged in pantries. Suddenly the sky’s divided. Stop. Get out. Spin round with your arms spread wide. The wind just takes you.

(Untitled)

Everyone’s a ship locked in ice——graves and hills torn up in heat——and we talk to each other by blinking. A rat’s inching up a chair as it sinks into mud. Children come rushing down into the sea’s blood. And they just keep coming. The wings above us, flapping away in cool blue, have been dead for millions of years. Billions.