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Nocturne

 

I am a dog wrestling with a big bloody heart
whose valves flub to the very suck of hell.
Light-footed night and by night welcomed.
Scuffing trees, I am sudden.
 
Paws upon windowsills, bark rattling citizens inside their turn,
sleeping, sweat-naped, unsuspecting.
If they catch a flash of froth-terrible jaws
in moonlight, they will have taken the present I left.
 
Taught on night’s perch, another moon brights away.
Here’s to run where no streets usurp rash brambles.
Here’s to find my outer heartland
where small stars hang before the punch is thrown.

from Union!Find more by Ish Klein at the library

Copyright © 2009 Ish Klein
Used with the permission of Canarium Books.

Published in Ish Klein Poems

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this (publication, website, exhibit, etc.) do not necessarily represent those of the Idaho Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.