Shadow of the gull on the airport wall, lunging
as the fuselage vaults above the meadow. Hollow in
the cornrow where the hobo slept, then a backhoe
filling up the furrow. Misery of clocks in neon
glare, whereabouts of warblers and island foxes,
an old flame googled from the dead letter office, simple
as the still-warm bench at dusk. Typing or sewing,
or bringing down a fever through a length of knotted string
and a rusted staple gun. Here comes the tattooed
witch with her drum while the royals wait by the limousine
grinning. Shadow of the gull on the airport wall,
shallows in the stairs where we fell and stepped, hollow in the
cornrow where the hobo slept, a backhoe filling the furrow.
Susan StewartSusan Stewart is the author, most recently, of Red Rover, a book of poems, and The Poet’s Freedom: A Notebook on Making.