Page 25 - WTP VOl. VIII #7

Blackbirds
To catch quick thought, an agile mind at play, Watch blackbirds flocking. Autumn has its say.
Birds swirl like dancers heeding the caller’s call. All at once they settle in corn stubble
To rise as one and line the telephone wire.
The conscious moment must be this one, theirs,
Alive to listening to an inner ear, Aware of being exactly where they are
Like iron filings following a magnet
As rhythm integrates their every instant
Drawn by a force indelibly inwrought
By long obedience to what looks like whim
And to the drill that marshals it as thought Let go of as it lets the next thought in.
Hamilton is the author of A Certain Arc, a collection of essays published in 2019. Other books include Deep River: A Memoir of a Missouri Farm; a volume of poems, Ossabaw, and a chapbook, The Least Hinge. Former editor of The Iowa Review, he taught lit- erature and writing at the University of Iowa for thirty-seven years. Hamilton is a contributing editor at WTP.
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