Imitation of Jeff Gundy's "Second Morning Song from Oneonta"

(Click here for text of Gundy's poem.)

Fourth Evening Song from
the Goshen Dam
So late the skittish deer are finally asleep.
A long stretch of wood where roommates

rested torsos and then snuggled together
into warm arms under the darkness.

Still the water roars and hisses
and the bright bottoms of fireflies flash against

the trees like those thousand cameras
you saw at the kickoff on TV. God said,

the people who love you will often
be difficult to keep. God said, laughter

is a good sign but not endurable.
God said capture this moment like a dove,

capture and fatten it as you dream
of being fed yourself. Release the moment

but deliberately as the great magician releases doves
for the miracles you cannot fathom or recognize.

God says all this has been given you,
the hum of streetlights and whiff of smoke

trailing giggly teenagers on midnight escapes,
and the riverbed where the naked rocks

let go of their wet blanket to expose their faces.
God says talk faster, God says

don't let go. God says let go.

Anita Hooley
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