Tracy Zeman
Broad Wings above Tall Grass
We watch bank swallows
flitter out from a cliff face hunting mayflies
on the wing hikers mistake them for midday
bats water pools below & castoff branches
swim in runoff & moss
Crowding of ditch & field from row crops
hedge-apple smashed roadside
its white seedy heart exposed a white-tailed deer
stiff eyeless & blank lay gutted
in gravel & mud possess
Principle pilgrim a circular bricked barn
decaying windmill pasture thistle &
marsh-marigold fleabane streams & rivers
high after heavy June rains run thick & brown
to cut one’s teeth on comfort
On creature a dark speck in the updraft
smattering of species swirling mass
of redtails & Swainson’s hawks after wintering
on grasshoppers nest on low rimrock ledges
clutches of two or three
Salt Creek feeds the Sangamon in a straight line
its former course a checkered-skipper oscillating
among hollyhocks & poppies we climb the little hill
loess light under our feet a soft summer
a horse a few hands on the common good
Tracy Zeman’s poems have appeared in Beloit Poetry Review, jubilat, Cutbank, The Sonora Review and other journals. Her manuscript Empire of Grass was recently a finalist in the Tupelo Press First/Second book contest, and her poem “Grass for Bone” was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Tracy currently lives in Springfield, IL with her husband and daughter.
Return to July 2013 Edition
We watch bank swallows
flitter out from a cliff face hunting mayflies
on the wing hikers mistake them for midday
bats water pools below & castoff branches
swim in runoff & moss
Crowding of ditch & field from row crops
hedge-apple smashed roadside
its white seedy heart exposed a white-tailed deer
stiff eyeless & blank lay gutted
in gravel & mud possess
Principle pilgrim a circular bricked barn
decaying windmill pasture thistle &
marsh-marigold fleabane streams & rivers
high after heavy June rains run thick & brown
to cut one’s teeth on comfort
On creature a dark speck in the updraft
smattering of species swirling mass
of redtails & Swainson’s hawks after wintering
on grasshoppers nest on low rimrock ledges
clutches of two or three
Salt Creek feeds the Sangamon in a straight line
its former course a checkered-skipper oscillating
among hollyhocks & poppies we climb the little hill
loess light under our feet a soft summer
a horse a few hands on the common good
Tracy Zeman’s poems have appeared in Beloit Poetry Review, jubilat, Cutbank, The Sonora Review and other journals. Her manuscript Empire of Grass was recently a finalist in the Tupelo Press First/Second book contest, and her poem “Grass for Bone” was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Tracy currently lives in Springfield, IL with her husband and daughter.
Return to July 2013 Edition