Boketto (Japanese, v.): gazing vacantly into the
distance (without thought or sense of self)
How windows dohow cows do
How a parachute blooms calm
slows motion
a house of cornerless sky
a round to rove in
How you wake in an unfamiliar bed
no idea where here is
Or how one wakes after another’s death
and for five seconds they’re not
This white spacethis difference
between snow and seeds
and the way they drift
Or steam and cold breath—
the simultaneous distinction and confusion
of temperature
Clarity translucing
the way a cloud covers
the sun causing the ocean
to put heavy clothes back on
How Nebraskans describe the air
just before a tornado:
green and shock still
mouthing cellar
mouthing chance
from Poetry Northwest 11.2 Winter & Spring 2017More by Leah Poole Osowski from the library
Copyright © Leah Poole Osowski
Used with the permission of the author
on behalf of Poetry Northwest.