Page 17 - WTP Vol. X #7
P. 17
Returning
The goldfinches are back better than butter melting in cursive swirls landing briskly briefly
in the Japanese maple outside my yawning office window teasing me to stop
work and go outside
in the lavender dawn
that smells like fir and water
and cheers the ruddy
house finches, the cardinals
and all their dim and colorful
kin to cheep chatter warble chirp for pure pleasure
in themselves
and their mates
unknowing but helping
us weary ones
unremember
winter’s wastes
Kilcup is the Elizabeth Rosenthal Excellence Professor of American Literature, Environmental & Sustainability Studies, and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at UNC Greensboro. Her forthcoming book The Art of Restoration was awarded the 2021 Winter Goose Poetry Prize. Her recent titles include Stronger, Truer, Bolder: American Children’s Writing, Nature, and the Environment and Who Killed American Poetry?: From National Obsession to Elite Possession. She is a New Englander with long farming roots.
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