Poetry Magazine
Tempo for a Winged Instrument
Full of light and music, the beating air.
Light like a bird, Calvino says, not a feather.
Over the water the shags come in to land
All wings, uh-ohing over the cliffs.
Rock, their nests, and bare the rookeries.
Blue eye, blue eye, the wind plays fast and sharp.
They lift and ride and do not pick their fights.
Oh, blue sky, blue day. Heart
Of muscle, thrumming down, and swift.
Source: Poetry (July/August 2012).
Biography
Poet, novelist, and editor Katharine Coles earned a BA at the University of Washington, an MA at the University of Houston, and a PhD at the University of Utah.
Coles is the author of several collections of poetry, including Fault (2008), Utah Book Award winner The Golden Years of the Fourth Dimension (2001), and The One Right Touch (1992). She is also the author of the novels Fire Season (2005) and The Measurable World . . .
Poem Categorization
POET’S REGION U.S., Northwestern
Poetic Terms Mixed
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