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Bait Goat

By Kay Ryan b. 1945 Kay Ryan

There is a

distance where

magnets pull,

we feel, having

held them

back. Likewise

there is a

distance where

words attract.

Set one out

like a bait goat

and wait and

seven others

will approach.

But watch out:

roving packs can

pull your word

away. You

find your stake

yanked and some

rough bunch

to thank.

Source: Poetry (September 2008).

Biography

Born in California in 1945 and acknowledged as one of the most original voices in the contemporary landscape, Kay Ryan is the author of several books of poetry, including Flamingo Watching (2006), The Niagara River (2005), and Say Uncle (2000). Her book The Best of It: New and Selected Poems (2010) won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Ryan's tightly compressed, rhythmically dense poetry is often compared to that of Emily . . .

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