The world may be burning, but by Megan Stillwell

to tell you the truth,

I have loved the green-gold hours

on the white dogwood,

the 27 words for love,

the cherry blossoms blooming

after a loud and bloody birth,

the way the birds sing in the trees

right before dawn, the long

dark symphony of space-time,

the wood thrush, the crow,

the hawk, the bluejay, the junco,

the robins, the wrens, the brown and

rosey cardinals, the mourning doves —

no, just one, always alone

on the wire at dawn, plump

and vigilant, as we rotate

towards the sun, so that even

in its own shadow, the earth, careening,

turns us again, awake and keening,

towards another florid day.

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Megan Stillwell's poems have been published or are forthcoming in Sugar House Review, Apricity Press, Sky Island Journal and Oberon Poetry. She was also longlisted for Ploughshares Emerging Writers' Contest in 2024.