Paint

Jane Hirshfield is a Bay Area-based poet, essayist, and translator. Her newest book, Ledger: Poems, will be published in 2020.

poet jane hirshfield stopped writing for eight years to study at the san francisco zen center
Poet Jane Hirshfield stopped writing for eight years to study at the San Francisco Zen Center.
Jane Hirschfeld

Someone invented this.

If a person
pees on a wall so painted,
the pee splashes back,
wets the pants, soaks the shoes.

Surprise! the wall says.

Someone thought this a good solution.
Someone gave it a color.

Jane Hirshfield is the author of eight poetry books, including The Beauty and Given Sugar, Given Salt. She has been honored with the Poetry Center Book Award and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Academy of American Poets.

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