In a suburban backyard, green-garlanded dark
and creekshine—in the case of Light vs. Dark,
the verdict is this summer night. Unexpectedly,
and creekshine—in the case of Light vs. Dark,
the verdict is this summer night. Unexpectedly,
light-pleated wings shawl a bird out of place here.
A black crowned night heron stands in the runoff.
Uphill in the backyard, I’m feeding a fat raccoon.
I’m out tonight and so a witness to the tourist bird,
its stocky body unheron-like. I had never seen one.
Beautiful and present then just a shadow and gone.
I went to pocket for an iPhone and came up empty-
handed. Sure, maybe I said, Shit. But the point is,
a raccoon got a bellyful of Whole Foods salmon.
I got that sudden, resonant whirring of wings.
I got this world summoning the next and next.
Roy Bentley
Roy Bentley is the author of Walking with Eve in the Loved City, chosen by Billy Collins as a finalist for the Miller Williams prize; Starlight Taxi, winner of the Blue Lynx Poetry Prize; The Trouble with a Short Horse in Montana, chosen by John Gallaher as winner of the White Pine Poetry Prize; as well as My Mother’s Red Ford: New & Selected Poems 1986 – 2020 published by Lost Horse Press.