A Poem is Going to Happen
(Poem Unlimited No.2)

A poem is going to happen is an ongoing poem inspired by something the poet Sarah Kay said in her Brief But Spectacular segment on the PBS Newshour. It is the second in a series of unending poems called “Poem Unlimited.”

A poem is going to happen

like a ninja attack,
finding you
sleeping, in the night.

Image: In the Shade of the Willows, Yokoyama Taikan (Kodansha/Charles E. Tuttle, 1959)

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A poem is going to happen

when I am busy with
something else,
so I must be ready for it.

Image: Woman with a Pearl Necklace, Vermeer 1662-1665.

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A poem is going to happen

it requires no
assistance.

Image: La Sirena by Franco Gentillini.
From Panorama Della Arti, No. 11, 1964.

A poem is going to happen

raucously.

Image: Ipatropium Bromide by Damien Hirst, 2004.
From The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011, Gagosian Gallery, 2012.

A poem is going to happen

it is
not
up
for discussion.

Image: Caroline Seated by Alberto Giacometti
From Tate Gallery Catalogue, 1965.

A poem is going to happen

it can
wait
no longer.

Image: The World Today, February, 1907.

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A Poem is going to happen

you always
knew,
didn’t you?

Image: Postcard of Salta, Argentina, 1973

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A poem is going to happen

when
I see you off at the airport.

Image: Finnair Poster, 1960s

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A poem is going to happen

right in front of you, like a
seven-car pileup
on the expressway.

Image: ‘La sultane lisant’; a lady in Turkish costume reading on a divan, Jean-Etienne Liotard, 1748-52. (from the cover of a Box of Pomegranate Notecards.)

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A poem is going to happen

because there is something
about the birds
that makes them sing.

Image: Where Eagles Soar, Frank Johnston (1920)

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A poem is going to happen

when you are
you are listening to the radio and
your favorite song comes on.

Image: Green Coca-Cola Bottles, Andy Warhol (1962)

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