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# Two Poems by Matthew Rohrer
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/two-poems-by-matthew-rohrer/
- Published: 2014-05-07T15:05:17.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:44:23.000Z
- Description: Our poetry editor, Joe Pan, has selected two poems by Matthew Rohrer for his series that brings original poetry to the screens of Hyperallergic readers.
- Author: Joe Pan
- Tags: Poetry, Hyperallergic Poetry, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

*Our poetry editor, Joe Pan, has selected two poems by Matthew Rohrer for his* [*series*](http://hyperallergic.com/tag/hyperallergic-poetry/) *that brings original poetry to the screens of Hyperallergic readers.*

\* \* \*

![switzerland-birth-place-of-dada-1920](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/05/switzerland-birth-place-of-dada-1920.jpg)

Max Ernst, “Untitled” (1920) (image via Wikipaintings)

## Collage

I fear a silent man  
at public functions  
where I come  
to pick up my children.  
I fear a man  
all light, a seraph-man  
so sure of himself  
and just the steeple’s finger  
in the blue morning  
where all the public schools  
watch the clouds,  
that late were rich with light.  
By now I am used  
to living without the world  
inside a gentle prison  
of my own  
though something  
holds my will.  
A little spacey  
leaning up against  
the brick wall  
in the winter sun  
with all the others  
waiting for the bell to ring.

## Collage

Before the hurricane  
of money destroyed it  
one of the walls had  
painted on it  
*Give Alms To All Who Ask*  
and we liked to play there  
by the river, the little boy,  
while far off a painted  
barge disturbed the lilies.  
And his friend with anger  
set his face towards the city  
and shuddered aloud  
with a hissing sound.  
There is a little  
film of this and bright  
sprinkler water  
on the downtown.  
When this boy’s sad mother  
sent me a suggestive  
email the surge  
of spring was in the stream.  
And then the hot days, all  
at once. With my wife  
beside me on the couch  
I could not sleep, to see her  
move beneath the moon.

 \* \* \*

*Matthew Rohrer is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently* [Destroyer and Preserver](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1933517506/hyperallergic-20?ref=hyperallergic.com)*, published by Wave Books.*