Alumni Updates

Murmur

This is for the woman in pigtails on the median strip

holding a hand-lettered sign: Find what you love

and follow it. It’s the day before the vernal equinox

and there’s so much standing about in sandals

amidst mounds of discouraged snow, so much

refraction in the cathedral that it’s hard to hear

the inner sparrow. The birds come in

on the in-tide and then they’re trapped.

There’s a man wearing a tee-shirt, logo of

boots and spurs on his chest. Emblazoned.

Like the slash of white

across the muzzle of your favorite horse.

And the couple at the corner table, whispering

into each other’s mouth, stroking each other’s hands

and cheekbones like there’s something hidden there.

There is always something hidden there.

Think of your past as the study of plate tectonics.

Once in the Upper Peninsula in the car of a stranger.

Once beneath a train trestle.

Certain truths abide.

Nobody wants to be the poor in spirit.

Everyone loves a good downpour.