Derek Sheffield

That bright of the blue sky variety
raising every racket of mower
and blower, backhoe and whacker,

not to mention every street's hatch
of after-school slammers and high-pitched
trampoliners. O just a while longer,

a day, maybe three, give them
a rest. Have the hammocks hold fast
and the bark remain in the dog.

Have the thinnest veil of dusk,
fog, or drizzle, call stillness
near, her sister, silence, here.
from the book NOT FOR LUCK / Wheelbarrow Books
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This poem arrived, as Dickinson would say, slant. There’s a bit of irony in that it’s the first of my collection, "Not for Luck." Like stepping up to the microphone and raising your finger to your lips—"Shh"—before filling the air with “words, words, words.” The irony makes me smile, even as it’s my hope that the poem works a bit like a temple bell.

Derek Sheffield on "Timid as Any Herd Animal"
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