KERI WITHINGTON

★ ★ ★ ★

POETRY

Image by Hugues de Buyer-Mimeure

New Moon

The owl outside, across the street, in the dogwood,
calls out at two, three, almost into the dawn hours.
New moon, he calls, or maybe, who are you,

clear through the brick walls, my husband’s steady snoring.
I love the sounds of the small hours, rustling sheets,
distant trains. Lavender scented pillows,

the smell of bonfire in my hair, apple cider. 
We burned logs and brush, junk mail and last year’s papers,
boxes left over from Christmas. The stars

snuck up on us, cold-bright, the moon just a sliver.
I thought I saw him then, hunting in the meadow,
a shadow shaped like wings, a new month, sleep.

I dreamt of triplets

The smallest a baby bird
Sinew and bone
Without the win fullness of feathers
Mouth open 
Mewing

The next swaddled in paper
Words around torso
Tucked between notebook pages
Like a book-mark
All potential

The third suckled
The smell of yeast and honey
Damp hair over fontanel
Milk drunk
Belly swollen

See these veins in arm
See this muscle flexed in wrist
Vestigial

Our bones remember how to fly
Maxilla Mandable 
Marrow

The call to air
Absence in my arms
The scent of old paper