Archive
Christmas Eve
Two red-tailed hawks tear at opposite ends
of a dead doe, corpse tossed fifteen feet
from the road, meat kept by the cool air,
body opening like bittersweet’s last red
fruit as it clings to the vine.
by Todd Davis
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Confession
Forgive me
they were delicious
—William Carlos Williams
Like Williams and his plums, meat
turning to sugar under skin, I confess
my sin: I’ve eaten the apples
that ferment in tall grass, abandoned
when the life fell out of the place.
With the first cold days, at night
they freeze, then thaw a bit by noon,
last warmth of October
drawing these few incorrigible bees
who still bother to venture across
this rotting round globe.
by Todd Davis
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Last of December
Cottonwood flames, cherry parallels fire —
out of the crack and hinge, quiet whistle
over the grate: a comfort to know the dead sing
even as they pass into the new year.
by Todd Davis
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Couturier
Blue back of jay
scissors air, cuts
across hemlock,
pattern dressing
the day.
by Todd Davis
Even Here
In the woods wake-robin nods
………. its dark red head and dreams of days
……………….. grown longer, leaving less time
………………………… for sleep; foam flower and violets
towel heavy dew from the backs
………. of their leaves, modesty always
……………….. in mind; and bear begin to move about
………………………… in this new warmth, nosing beneath
fallen logs, rubbing the last of winter’s
………. wooly-itch against beech and red oak.
……………….. At the bottom of the hollow, a sow,
………………………… who nursed her cubs through the dark
months of closed eyes, peers into
………. the streambed, sees in her own
……………….. urgent reflection the movement
………………………… of native brook trout, the hunger
of her patience. Before she can
………. capture the first, her cubs, like any
……………….. young, come splashing, spoiling
………………………… the quiet of the pool.
by Todd Davis (also here)
qarrtsiluni 