National Poetry Month : Bronwen Tate,

 

 

from HOW TO STAY

 

The children watch a skunk nose
through the slush. Moon hidden, dream

peeling like an orange, segmented. I wanted
the noise and the garden, wet daffodils,

smell of their weeping stems. 

Orange peels outlast the compost; the skunk
sidles off into the woods. I walk facing the rain

and the weather that comes after it.
The skunk is back. She’s by the front door

studying our snow shovels.

 

 

 

 

Bronwen Tate teaches poetry, creative nonfiction, and creative writing pedagogy at UBC in Vancouver. She is the author of the poetry collection The Silk the Moths Ignore and a contributor to the collaborative book-length poem Midwinter Constellation. Her newsletter Ok, But How? goes deep on process and includes snacks.