The erasure material was taken from “Loving the Chambered Nautilus to Death” by William J. Broad, The New York Times, Science section, October 24, 2011.

“Cryptic” is a found piece from “Nautilus,” Wikipedia, 2012.

“She Sells Seashells”

I have benefited from Shelley Emling, The Fossil Hunter (NY: Palgrave/MacMillan, 2009) and Thomas W. Goodhue, Curious Bones: Mary Anning and the birth of paleontology. (Greensboro, NC: Morgan Reynolds Publishing, Inc., 2002).

The following lines are from Lord Byron:

’Tis time this heart should be unmoved,

Since others it hath ceased to move . . .

Black Ven is a cliff in Dorset, England, that is part of what is known as the Jurassic Coast.

“Likeness—A Self-Portrait”

Quoted material is from the article “Blink Twice if You Like Me” by Carl Zimmer, The New York Times, June 29, 2009. I have taken some poetic license with the information.

“After Being Asked If I Write the Occasional Poem”

I used material from “In Home Village of Girl Who Died in U.S. Custody, Poverty Drives Migration” by Elisabeth Malkin, The New York Times, December 18, 2018.

“Alloy”

I have used quotations and information about Isamu Noguchi gleaned from a number of sources, including Isamu Noguchi: Essays and Conversations, edited by Diane Apotolos-Cappadonna and Bruce Altshuler (New York: Harry Abrams Publishers, 1994); and Masayo Duus, The Life of Isamu Noguchi: Journey without Borders, translated from the Japanese by Peter Duus (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004).

“Divine”

I have used some details from “The Case of Jane Doe Ponytail,” by Dan Barry and Jeffrey E. Singer, The New York Times, October 16, 2018. In a follow-up article published after this poem was written (“ ‘Jane Doe Ponytail’: Her Life Ended in N.Y. Now Her Brother’s Bringing Her [Ashes] Home,” NYT, April 9, 2019), the same journalists reported that Song Yang’s mother and brother did not believe the official account of her death and conducted their own investigation.

The italicized phrases and lines are from Emily Dickinson’s “Color — Caste — Denomination — ” [836]. The Unisphere was built for the 1964 N.Y. World’s Fair, and the Kosciuszko is a bridge connecting Brooklyn and Queens.

“After Words for Ava”

The humuhumunukunukuapua‘a is Hawai‘i’s state fish.

“Afterword: The Bamboo Grove Where Various Individuals Mostly Think Aloud”

I’ve adopted Rashōmon points of view, as made famous by the film based on Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s combined short stories, “Rashōmon,” and “In a Grove.”

Acknowledgments

My tremendous thanks to the writers who took time from their own art to read and comment on these poems: in particular to Nicole Cooley, Lynn Emanuel, Paul Lisicky, Stephen Miller, Rajiv Mohabir, Dara Weir, Abby Wender, and my dear husband Harold Schechter. Thanks also to Beowulf Sheehan for his magic lens. And my gratitude to the editors who took the poems listed below. And, as always, abiding thanks to Jill Bialosky for her confidence and friendship.

American Poetry Review

“She Sells Seashells”

Believer

“A Little Safe”

Bosch Bruegel Anthology

“Unearthly Delights”