Dear heart, it’s time. I’ve felt it for weeks, and just this morning the barn swallows returned to build their nest in the eaves, flew 600 miles in a single day to find me wading the reeds in Tadpole Pond. Their split tails cut the air, orange throats sucking up insects spring intended for my garden. This is how we line the nest; feather, horse hair, cotton. This is how we catch with our mouths in midair. This is how we return time after time, voices cracking winter's scab, voices humming, pitched sideways like warmed paraffin. I’m not afraid to say it. I never wanted this great distance, all those miles ringing out. Darling, my desire sings from mudslide, bees frozen in the comb, magnolia lifting her stingy pink fingers to heaven. I am the clubfoot colt, the crooked lamb, the cleft and bloody whelp, the spoon- full of mice stillborn in the kitchen drawer. I am the buck-toothed girl who waits at the fence, watching for spring’s terrible thaw.
Rebecca: I LOVE this poem. It is one of my favorites in _Tarantella_. "bees frozen in the comb" "magnolia lifting her stingy pink finger to heaven" (fits the picture~) "crooked lamb" "spoonful of mice stillborn in a drawer" Lovely. Stunning.
Nest
ReplyDeleteDear heart, it’s time. I’ve felt it for weeks,
and just this morning the barn swallows
returned to build their nest in the eaves,
flew 600 miles in a single day to find me
wading the reeds in Tadpole Pond.
Their split tails cut the air, orange throats
sucking up insects spring intended
for my garden. This is how we line
the nest; feather, horse hair, cotton.
This is how we catch with our mouths
in midair. This is how we return time
after time, voices cracking winter's
scab, voices humming, pitched
sideways like warmed paraffin. I’m not
afraid to say it. I never wanted this great
distance, all those miles ringing out.
Darling, my desire sings from mudslide,
bees frozen in the comb, magnolia lifting
her stingy pink fingers to heaven. I am
the clubfoot colt, the crooked lamb,
the cleft and bloody whelp, the spoon-
full of mice stillborn in the kitchen drawer.
I am the buck-toothed girl who waits
at the fence, watching for spring’s
terrible thaw.
Love,
Rebecca
Rebecca: I LOVE this poem. It is one of my favorites in _Tarantella_.
ReplyDelete"bees frozen in the comb" "magnolia lifting her stingy pink finger to heaven" (fits the picture~) "crooked lamb" "spoonful of mice stillborn in a drawer" Lovely. Stunning.