Arthur Sze, the first Poet Laureate of Santa Fe, is the author of numerous poetry collections, including The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems and The Silk Dragon II: Translations of Chinese Poetry (Copper Canyon Press, 2024). The recipient of several awards, including a 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, Sze is also a chancellor at the Academy of American Poets. He lives in Santa Fe and is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Photograph by Jennifer Brummett.

Mistaking Water Hemlock for Parsley

by Arthur Sze

Mistaking water hemlock for parsley,
I die two hours
later in the hospital;
or I turn the shish kebab on the hibachi,
and reel, crash
to the floor, die of a ruptured aorta.

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