Thursday, March 19, 2026

Michael Magee

SKY NEWS


No place to sleigh ride anymore--

antlers are just the same

we're wiping the fields clean

through the front windshield's rain.


We're passing the lorries skidding

out along the motorway, I've half-

a mind to stop--the car has a mind

to drive itself all the way back.


From Nottingham to Middlesbrough

so I keep my foot down on the bass,

my feet keep trading places from

the brake pedal to the gas.


No place to sleigh ride anymore--

antlers just the same

we're wiping the fields clean

through the windshield's broken pane.




TAKE A SNOW DAY


A limb from the cypress

has broken, leaving a gash

and a near miss, my cheek

is bleeding in the snow

and children are sledding

down the hill, screaming

from all directions,


a kind of kill as they swoop

down across the pond

the heron flaps in its escape

looking for a landing,

I feel its cold breath

all across the sound where

I take a page from this journal

as a snow field to sled on

or a pond to skate on.


I walk across the snow,

my feet clinging to my soles,

my breath frozen for now

my lips re-sealed

in my holy book where

I write down the day

keep track of even the dog's

paw prints in the snow and

ducks still swim on a frozen

pond as though it were vinyl.




DAYLIGHT'S SAVINGS


A scattering of robins, crows, hens

across the yard, picking up feed

grubs, tattoo the ground

eviscerate the lawn around me.


Their shrill cries warn

they're massing out on patrol

eat together as friends

hens fill the yard in pecking order.


Perfume of Daphnes in the air

with their pinafores, I cross

the street and up Division, but forget

to multiply, keep the remainder


With time on my hands and counting

I have only wristwatch

to remind me of the hour

I saved by getting up early.


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Michael Magee

SKY NEWS No place to sleigh ride anymore-- antlers are just the same we're wiping the fields clean through the front windshield's ra...