An Unknown Shore

Variations on a Fragment by Oppen

by Andrew Allport

Cortez arrives
he is absolutely lost
at an unknown shore and he is enraptured

Cortez arrives at an unknown shore
he is absolutely lost
and he is enraptured

Cortez arrives at an unknown shore
he is utterly lost
but he is enraptured

Cortez arrives too late
the shore is absolutely barren
the men lost to starvation and rapture

Cortez utters
“Lost”
(this is the nature of description)

Cortez walks upon the beach
the ocean is as still as a map
spread out on a table

Cortez arrives sun-senseless
wrapped in gold
plashing in the shallow
he takes a nap

All the Cortezes arrive
all the waves arrive
(this is the nature of disaster)

Andrew Allport is a Ph.D. candidate in English and creative writing at the University of Southern California. This is his second poem in print. He notes: “The first stanza is an unpublished fragment by George Oppen.” E-mail: allport at usc dot edu