Cat Scarf—Arasta Bazaar by Joan Leotta Under the awning, in the Arasta Bazaar we pawed through the display in front of the silk shop— dozens of soft, splendid scarves shimmied in the breeze calling to our eyes and fingers. I spied among them, a silken swath replete with feline images. My daughter draped it overContinue reading “Cat Scarf—Arasta Bazaar by Joan Leotta”
Category Archives: animals
Interlude by John Hicks
Interlude by John Hicks I’m driving home for the weekend, toward sunset fading eastern Nebraska. Leaving the world of data mapping and test design. Route 44. County seat to county seat across Iowa. The last stop sign half an hour ago, I’m still an hour from the Missouri. Farmyard lights coming on encase barns andContinue reading “Interlude by John Hicks”
Captiva by Cathy Barber
Captivaby Cathy Barber Herons and egrets land below our balcony.White pelicans brush the waterin that half-V formationthey seem to have half-copied from Canada geese.From our porch, we relish the day-long silence,dotted only by a fish’s flopor an osprey’s single shriek.Our quiet ends just before sunset,when charter boats motor into the bay.The boats are jampacked withContinue reading “Captiva by Cathy Barber”
Irish Cow Circle by Maureen Grady
Irish Cow Circleby Maureen Grady I sat in a field of damp grass,in the very centerof a Neolithic stone circle,imagining a piece of theatreI’d love to direct there when eight cows approachedfrom the far edges of the field,came right up to me,until their big brown headsencircled me,crowded above me. And one by one,each lay downContinue reading “Irish Cow Circle by Maureen Grady”
Elegy for the Quagga by Sarah Lindsay
Elegy for the Quagga by Sarah Lindsay Krakatau split with a blinding noise and raised from gutted, steaming rock a pulverized black sky, over water walls that swiftly fell on Java and Sumatra. Fifteen days before, in its cage in Amsterdam, the last known member of Equus quagga, the southernmost subspecies of zebra, died. Most ofContinue reading “Elegy for the Quagga by Sarah Lindsay”
Japanese Brush-Strokes by Jun Fujita
Japanese Brush-Strokesby Jun Fujita TWO LEAVESUnder the scowling skyThe frozen sand-plain stretches.Curled and crisp, two leavesScud away. OBLIVIONThere is no time here.From giant trunks hoary mossHangs through the air of shadowy green.And cool drew drops. MISTAbove the settling mist,Above the phantom isles upon the settling mist,In the opalized moonlight,The whinny of a horse careers by.Continue reading “Japanese Brush-Strokes by Jun Fujita”
Rain in the Hills by William Haskell Simpson
Rain in the Hillsby William Haskell Simpson Were I the rainComing over the hills— I should be gladThat my cool fingers could ease the little fevers of dusty water-holes,And caress curled leaves of the cottonwoods. The herd,Pawing, bellowing, would let me quiet them,Standing in fresh pools by dusty water-holes– If I were the rainComing over theContinue reading “Rain in the Hills by William Haskell Simpson”
Poem for Japan by Matthew Zapruder
Poem for Japan by Matthew Zapruder all day staying inside listening to a podcast discuss how particles over the Pacific might drift I knew thinking whenever cloud scares me I am not alone my umbrella slept in the closet I placed a few nouns in beautiful cages then let them out touched with my mindContinue reading “Poem for Japan by Matthew Zapruder”
Iowa by Robbie Klein
Iowa by Robbie Klein It never completely gets dark on those back roads. There are stars, deceptively few. And velvet consumes and velvet erupts: the softness is the leaves and the dirt paths and stables and skin. And eyes. The dark places, the secret places: abrupt, always, fleeting but indelibly there, like a muscle memory.Continue reading “Iowa by Robbie Klein”
Kid, this is Iowa by Jeffrey Bean
Kid, this is Iowaby Jeffrey Bean everything we are is here—my dead grandmother as a girlhunting fireflies in tiger lilies,me throwing walnuts at gas cansby the barn, stomping mud puddles,my sticky hands lifting an appleto my mouth. Here are dogwoods and hills of corn that lead to more hillsof corn and more corn until theContinue reading “Kid, this is Iowa by Jeffrey Bean”
POETRY and PLACES 