Poems and Texts

“afire with purpose” by Kaia Sand

afire with purpose

In the bright threat of attention
the surefire glare of recognition
you became a public person
mindful of those who live
downriver and downwind
from the malice of power
downtrodden by disregard
upbraided by rancor
For them, you—
heart-sure, afire
with purpose—
you became a public person

Photo: Frederico Pellachin

Kaia Sand

Kaia Sand is the author of the newly released A Tale of Magicians Who Puffed Up Money that Lost its Puff (Tinfish Press 2016) as well as Remember to Wave (Tinfish Press 2010), and interval (Edge Books), a Small Press Traffic book of the year in 2004; and co-author with Jules Boykoff of Landscapes of Dissent: Guerrilla Poetry and Public Space (Palm Press, 2008). With Garrick Imatani, she was an artist-in-residence from 2013-2015 at the City of Portland Archives and Records Center, responding to historical surveillance files on local political activists. This past spring she exhibited Moth, Flame, Desire, at the Portland Community College Cascade Gallery, after serving in the Despina Artist Residency at Largo das Artes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She works across genres and media, dislodging poetry from the book into more unconventional contexts; she documents work at kaiasand.net.

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