The Dark Night of the Body

by Duane Locke 
 
Birch bark gone,
The canoe hull,
Spider webs.
 
Green spiders,
Emerald stars
Shine out of dark.
 
I sit on a slant
Of river bank
Watch willows
 
Walk towards me,
Carrying in their hands
The evening.
 
Twilight is placed
In the upturned cup
Of my cupped hands.
 
The twilight
Has many rivers
And dark hills.

© 2005 by Duane Locke. All rights reserved.
Duane Locke was Poet in Residence at the University of Tampa for over 20 years. His poems have appeared in magazines such as American Poetry Review, Nation, Literary Quarterly, Black Moon, and Bitter Oleander.