POEM

You Can't Buy Shoes in a Painting

by Jill Osier

Jill Osier
You can't even buy a soda. You can only
see these things, see a mother steer
her son to the car, his head cocked
licking his ice cream.

Earlier, driving, trying to keep   
between two cornfields, I couldn't see myself
into a map, couldn't be anywhere in it,
though I knew all the patient states
between us.

Pigeons sit high on a mill's peaked roof,
spaced even as beads. They can stand that
close to each other, but looking at them
you wouldn't know it. Would you.

This poem originally appeared in the June 2005 issue of Poetry.

June 2005 issue of Poetry Magazine

BUY THIS ISSUE »

 Jill  Osier

Jill Osier is from northeast Iowa, lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, and is currently the Diane . . . MORE »

Listen to the Audio

More Poems by Jill Osier

Left to Itself the Heart Could Almost Melt, Mend

Snow Becoming Light by Morning

Related

More Art & Science Poems

More Nature Poems

More Imagery Poems

More Free Verse Poems

Report a Problem