Back to Fall 2020

 eagle pantoum

BY KAYLA BEARDSLEE

I write a poem every other day,

Open a window and write about the curtains—

The empty space and the yellowed fabric.

The easiest stories are the ones that mean everything.

Open a window and write about the curtains;

Watch an eagle fly and write about its feathers.

The easiest stories are the ones that mean everything—

The hollowness, the gradual curve.

Watch an eagle fly and write about its feathers,

But be oblique about the talons.

The hollowness, the gradual curve

Of a wound—save it for the gap between the curtains.

Be oblique about the talons,

The confusion and hasty bandages

Of the wound. Save it for the space between the lines—

I write a poem every other day.