& the small bird at the roof’s edge
breath of cloud you’ve never felt
so amazed that’s how
accidents happen sudden
talons against the sky night shadow
of trees against the neighbors’ roof our moon
having its way with a light & a dark
From the hammock her face tilts
just enough from the small
fire he’s keeping inside her
voice never the still fruit hanging
so delicate the heart weighing less than
a pound hold hers in his hand
a single ringing buzzing thing
Lisa Fay Coutley is the author of ERRATA (SIU, forthcoming 2015), winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition Award and In the Carnival of Breathing (BLP, 2011), winner of the Black River Chapbook Competition. Her poetry has been awarded a fellowship from the NEA, scholarships to the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences, and an Academy of American Poets Levis Prize.