NATURE Poem: Lecture, by Thomas Hoskins

pause the slides so
she can take her time
with her notes,
let her write
til her face turns
blue,
let her write
til a dozen crows
come flying around to
pick at her like
a choir
of
fingers
smacking
down on
dozens of
keyboards
smearing
a residue
on my
ears,
til
all I hear is
a giant tongue
sloshing,
working some food
out of its gums,
saliva gushing and
bubbling
through tight lips,
til
all I can do
is smack
my head
with the force of
all those slammed fingertips
and bring myself back to
a blue garbage can
and a front porch
where birds smarter than us
eat cat food and scraps
from last night’s dinner
and we read
and read
til we feel
unlike
a creek that floods
whenever it wants,
and
all the poking fingers
and
all the nibbling corvids
freeze to ice chips
when
the turkey vultures come out,
when
dad’s eyes shine in the snow
like blue thumbtacks.

Author: poetryfest

Submit your Poetry to the Festival. Three Options: 1) To post. 2) To have performed by an actor 3) To be made into a film. View all posts by poetryfest