The sun drags worlds behind it
planets at its ankles
it hauls you out of bed
into the kitchen where
spoon by spoon the sun
draws itself through your body
this goes on and on one foot
after another through the usual rooms
while stars are dropping off the map
the sun drags the pen across the page
and out the sides of your eyes
the sky spins your tears
into a poem that falls back
on graves of lovers
and gardens of strangers
the sun without fail
pulls the coat of loneliness over your arms
as you walk in your own footprints
until you reach the place
where we can read these words together
~ Wyatt Townley
from The Afterlives of Trees (Woodley Press)
Wyatt Townley is the fourth Poet Laureate of Kansas. Her work has been read by Garrison Keillor on NPR, featured in Ted Kooser’s syndicated column, and published in journals including The Paris Review, North American Review, and The Yale Review. She has published three books of poems, most recently The Afterlives of Trees, a Kansas Notable Book and winner of the Nelson Award. The confluence of poetry and poetry-in-motion has shaped Wyatt’s life. (www.WyattTownley.com)
Double Trouble for Poetry Month: During Poetry Month, we are featuring a poem weekly from each of Kansas’s poets laureate in addition to our weekly poems.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 