#william aarnes

                        “I wear green for the sake of the kingfishers.”                                     —Alice Oswald, Dart I wear white, grey, and black             for the sake of the clouds. I wear a transparent raincoat             for the sake of the storms (apologetic that it’s plastic             and purchased online). I wear green for the sake             of the anoles in the…

Cold nine a.m, light on the apartment wall across the street, so cold it’s a brittle gloss that will never melt, a reflected chill that shines into my room. Light to write by, as if only winter sunlight can give words the precision that makes clarity possible, as if clarity could be as clear as chilling light, the kind of clarity I’m shimmering to achieve when I pull on my sweatshirt and…

                        after Tomas Transtrӧmer These days the trees in our yard move around, inching forward, shrinking back, lurking sideways— as if they were shadows, though they no longer cast shadows of their own on the ground. Certainly, their maneuvering, night or day, has nothing to do with sunlight. These days the trees move around as if sure we can’t stop them. We huddle together on the…

Today there are just ten of us in the subway car, each sitting alone minding our own business except I can’t help noticing the woman who wipes her eyes, then dabs at them again. The train stops. Not one of us gets us off; no one gets on. And we’re off again. And here I sit, restraining myself from announcing to the others how today I’m going to exercise the freedom to follow the guidance of…

She laughs about her parents getting so pissed when she refused to quit skydiving. He’s played some squash but given it up—a plate and screw in his wrist.

            She worries some about her tendency to walk             a step ahead of her friends. He’s afraid             that, at gatherings, he’d rather listen than talk.

                        Into her third Dark and Stormy she asks, “Jeez,  …

by William Aarnes