He leaned against the wall
And considered the shadows
Stippling the ground. Tree? Silo?
They were hard to tell between
For the cracks in his spectacle.
He tried to wiggle his toes.
No luck. Then he remembered
That he couldn’t remember
If he had toes. What a relief.
Was that thunder? He could taste
Something yellow in his mouth.
That roar? Cavalry? Am I a thief?
Candleberry ran the wall.
He felt a tickle in his throat
And pulled out a black feather.
He looked up the willow for
Bird, and began a shudder.
Listen:
Peter Jay Shippy’s most recent book is How to Build the Ghost in Your Attic (Rose Metal Press, 2007). He teaches literature at Emerson College. You can find more of his work at peterjayshippy.com.
Poet’s Recommendations:
All My Thoughts are the Same: Collected Short Poems by Bill Knott.
David Bowie’s “Low” by Hugo Wilcken.
Maurizio Cattelan: Is There Life Before Death? by Francesco Bonami, Nancy Spector, Barbara Vanderlinden, and Massimiliano Gioni.
Homepage photo via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbrowarnik/3407438503/in/faves-48472708@N02/
