Minnesota Poetry: Dobby Gibson’s “Skyscraper National Park”

Dobby Gibson's book of poetry Skirmish documents his own wrestling with the written word. Fortunately for us, those battles result in some lovely imagery. Skirmish is one of four collections of poetry nominated for a Minnesota Book Award this year. You can find out more about Gibson here.

Skyscraper National Park

Fake trees never grow in the lobbies

not known for any bird or breeze.

Just outside the revolving doors,

smokers stand beneath tiny clouds

and plot their revenge.

Their children are at home,

ordering their feelings over the Internet,

charging them to the credit cards they were given

for keeping spring break domestic this year.

Secretly beneath skirts, secretaries' thongs

slice through the Minneapolis night.

Refrigerated trucks shuttle what's left

of cattle carcasses into the industrial plant.

Above the national forest of television antennae,

unmanned spy drones migrate south,

looking for someplace to rest.

Like birds, they invented flying

to find something new to eat.

-- "Skyscraper National Park" by Dobby Gibson, from his collection of poems Skirmish. Reprinted here with permission from the publisher, Graywolf Press.

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