2 December 2003 | Vol. 3, No. 4
Crow
–after Ristovic
I found the lost ice fisher with his glassed-in face. A human light, a field of frozen water. Wrapped in fur, thinking of his horse. Thinking of something else entirely: Wild cows in a silver wood.
He's a man from whom I expect a lot, such as he should pay me a visit. Should count his mammals and carcasses. Put turtles the size of coins in his pockets.
He's a man, he says, who counts his eggs before they're turtles. Moves eighty tons of rocks to find the gold for a tooth. Frees right whales from fishing gear and kisses the nurse shark right on the eye.
I pulled him from his cube of ice and that afternoon we pocked the fields with open-pit lakes and sold cyanide at the bird market. We ate the bass that ate the antimony.
Wildest arms where it is dark enough. Exhausted gophers break the horse's leg. The unmarried, their gray body hair, lengths of it spooled. Finally he bares his plump breast, and the crow lets out a sigh.
About the author:
Sarah Vap has taught creative writing, poetry workshops and composition classes at ASU, Phoenix College, and the Writer's Voice. She has won many awards for her publications, including the Katherine C. Turner Award from the Academy of American Poets in 2003. She was also the Invited Poet at the 2003 Lithuania Spring Poetry Festival. Sarah has been a Poetry Editor with 42opus since Vol. 4, No. 3.
For further reading:
See the complete list of work by Sarah Vap at 42opus. Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 3, No. 4, where "Crow" ran on December 2, 2003. List other work with these same labels: poetry, prose poem.
