Thrush Poetry Journal
  • ABOUT
  • ARCHIVES
  • MARCH 2023
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • AWARDS
  • MASTHEAD

David Hornibrook
​

Motion & Eclipse

If not for the Supermoon blooming over Michigan 
in the fall of that year the intoxicated man 
would not have approached us passing by the theatre. 
Blame it on the rain, for example, dripping from 
awnings long after the storm was over. Particular 
forces. Wing thrusts for example, propelling the goose 
beyond reach of a fox. Cosmic dramas enacted on 
small bodies, ours included – all physics and physical,
a dropped bottle splintering into shards upon striking 
for example, pavement. The geese gather in the park 
to prepare for long migration. We walk our six blocks 
in the direction of a particular bench where we will 
sit together and look at the moon.  Cars pass 
in both directions. We are not the only ones walking 
on this street but we choose to decide the meaning 
of our touch. Slivers of the visible universe reflect 
everywhere in still puddles. Crisp air blows evenly 
from left to right. Intent thrives in our warm 
equations. The man was not intentional. He failed
at choosing though he was harmless, just drunk. 
The early humans crossed a bridge made of land 
to get to this place. Then the earth moved 
and the world became new. Still, no one called it 
a New World until it was already very old and then 
only by ignorance, perhaps intentional. Eventually 
the man wandered off muttering to himself. Leftover 
rain left the ground shiny and a little slick. We fail 
to consider that we are the ones flying through space. 
By imperceptible movements an earth tide shifted 
the sidewalk twelve inches closer to the sky. 
It was late October. When you pulled me 
close to your body it had nothing 
to do with sexual love. The geese 
were never metaphors for how to leave 
behind. They were only ever birds
crossing in front of the moon.




David Hornibrook's work was selected for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in PANK, The Baltimore Review, Five Quarterly, The Columbia Review, Flyway and elsewhere. He holds an MFA from the Helen Zell Writer's Program at the University of Michigan.




Return to January 2016 Edition