TOP
Header PostFeaturedImage 10

Stray by Elizabeth Alexander

Have just finished reading her book while listening to Brian Eno’s Apollo (Atmospheres & Soundtracks). I should be working but — you get the picture.

Stray
Elizabeth Alexander

On the beach, close to sunset, a dog runs
toward us fast, agitated, perhaps feral,
scrounging for anything he can eat.
We pull the children close and let him pass.

Is there such a thing as a stray child? Simon asks.
Like if a mother had a child from her body
but then decided she wanted to be a different child’s mother,
what would happen to that first child?

The dog finds a satisfying scrap and calms.
The boys break free and leap from rock to rock.
I was a stray man before I met your mother,
you say, but they have run on and cannot hear you.

How fast they run on, past the dark pool
your voice makes, our arms which hold them back.
I was a stray man before I met you,
you say. This time you are speaking to me.

From American Sublime by Elizabeth Alexander, published by Graywolf Press, 2005.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d