Baptism Of Desire
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By way of longing, winter has its eyeon red wings negotiating timber limbs,blood-rose and tailwind from the winterbird: and nowhere nests, and nowhere
rest for saints. This I would see and call itmy concern. But only if I’d cradled her;her feathers tufting, eager to be spared—and nowhere nest, and nowhere rest
for beasts. Apocalyptic is too long a sigh,the evening light translates to eveningwind. Again, an eye on whirled and winteredbird. Awareness is the proper name for nest.
Restless we live; a penknife scrapes a ply-wood, hinges harp; thud is the shutter’sgrim reminder that it shakes. The world’s alertto feelings and to flukes. Until, confessed,
we hunger for the birds. [End Page 119]
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After the Rain. © Hengki Lee
[End Page 120]
Sofia M. Starnes was Virginia’s Poet Laureate from 2012 to 2014 and is the author of five poetry collections, including Fully into Ashes (Wings Press, 2011) and is the editor of two anthologies. A recipient of a Fellowship from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and various national awards, she serves as Poetry Editor and Poetry Book Review Editor of the Anglican Theological Review. smstarnes@cox.net
