No more than the bird with piercing voice
do you stake my heart, the dumb
drum that feels its own
concentric pain, no more
Then the bird with piercing voice
stakes a wider, colder claim
than yours, to which I’m bound
but no more than the bird
With piercing voice I stake your name
in night, stalk the pulse of memory
no more then the bird with piercing voice
unfolds in me its blind and final wings
Trevor Conan Kearns grew up in the Air Force and has lived all over the United States as well as in Germany, Venezuela, and Japan. He has studied at UW-Madison, Nanzan University, Hokkaido University, and Cornell University, and currently teaches English at Greenfield Community College.