When we study them we slight desire
but humans already loved the earth
the antelopes with their bounding backs
humpback bison, auroch
On the dark sheath of lime
they called to them, Come, come
Because that is what humans do
We want things
*
Yes they ate them
but first they watched them—frenzy of hoof
and foreleg, floodscape of sound and gallop
flowing away away
What herds must have looked like
to limb-bound humans—
god, music
*
Score of antelope, score of deer
How do you make thunder on walls
lope and arc, lope and arc
In the firelight they saw
the animals dance
lion, bison, antelope, horse
Oh beauty, oh desire
Oh mind unfolding
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 22, Issue 1.
Michelle Blake is the author of three novels—The Tentmaker, Earth Has No Sorrow and The Book of Light (Putnam Penguin). In addition, she’s published poetry and essays in Tin House, The New York Times, Ploughshares, Southern Review, Solstice Literary Magazine, Mid-American Review, MORE Magazine, Mezzo Cammin and others. Her chapbook of poems, Into the Wide and Startling World, was awarded publication in the New Women’s Voices competition in 2012 (Finishing Line Press). In 2014, her collaborative project with photo-montage artist Fran Forman, Escape Artist, was published by Schiffer. Her essay “A Fable for Our Times” won the Solstice Nonfiction Award for 2015.See all items about Michelle Blake
