I rise in the dark to check the last polls,
then wait for light to shine through
gold-green leaves before I lace my shoes.
Courage. The sun is shining on the most beautiful
leaf, which is dead, and glowing with light.
Everything is metaphor this morning.
Even the wind, even my sanity
even the mangled carcass of a groundhog
I skirt on the road, whispering please
don’t let it still be there tomorrow.
Katherine Smith’s recent poetry publications include appearances in Boulevard, North American Review, Mezzo Cammin, Cincinnati Review, Missouri Review, Ploughshares, Southern Review, and many other journals. Her short fiction has appeared in Fiction International and Gargoyle. Her first book Argument by Design (Washington Writers’ Publishing House) appeared in 2003. Her second book of poems Woman Alone on the Mountain (Iris Press) appeared in 2014. She works at Montgomery College in Maryland.