Risk Management Song
so we commissioned a document
about sustenance and the city’s pores
metaphors of food and skin
for when the water rises
wired the desirable apartments
caves in units, strange hotels
possible domesticities
before the water rises
commissioned a report detailing
repose and densities for stones
from a point of view superior
to where the anger rises
made visibility a scale
turned the painting toward the wall
sweating into its close face
as if an angel, rising
the window blew in, cracked triangles
on the ground to figure choice
or prominence’s choiceless sharpness
angels’ recognition
turned style to a little pin
used to put down X and “storm”
and X for where air remains
for when the water rises
gathered all of us around
glossy invulnerable tables
to hear and judge a list of songs
the agents recognize
Notes:
“Risk Management Song” is from Songs & Ballads (Prelude Books, 2018). Reprinted by permission of Lindsay Turner.
“Not Too Hard to Master” is a series of poets writing on form and sharing a prompt. Read Lindsay Turner’s essay “Ballad-ish: On Common Meter“ and her writing prompt.
Source: Poetry (December 2025)