(Angelo Pantazis, Unsplash)

Under clouds cold as
blue clay, light seeps into

milkweed so it speaks
monarchs, and the wind

sings stones with voices
from where there are none,

from even before there was
anything to give voice,

calling in that gull’s shadow
angling in then gone

sumptuous as this pebble
balanced on my palm.

Brian Swanns most recent poetry collection is Imago (Johns Hopkins University Press), and his latest fiction is Huskanaw (MadHat Press). He teaches at Cooper Union in New York City.

Also by this author
Published in the November 2023 issue: View Contents
© 2024 Commonweal Magazine. All rights reserved. Design by Point Five. Site by Deck Fifty.