Issue 10: Michael Hettich — Green Linden Press

Michael Hettich

Wolves

I’m reading a book about wolves that never
actually discusses the animals but instead
delves into twigs and paths, bloody
entrails, livestock, and frightened families

and while I’m reading, a cloud of mosquitoes
hovers but doesn’t bite; a crow lands in the grass
and yells at me to wake up, as though I’d been sleeping

while a phone starts ringing in the distance, but I don’t
want to get up to answer, since this wolf-book
seems to be growing warm in my lap
like a plate of glowing coals I must carry through the night

to my comrades, so they will have fire.

Also by Michael Hettich: "Grace," from This Melody (2), from This Melody (1), "Another Time," "Lucky One," "Learning to Meditate," "The Apple Trees," "The Afternoon Nap"
In the store: "The Apple Trees" (broadside)

Michael Hettich

Michael Hettich has published a dozen books of poetry and an equal number of chapbooks. His most recent book, To Start an Orchard, was published in 2019 by Press 53. A new book, The Mica Mine, won the Lena Shull Book Award and is forthcoming from St. Andrews University Press in early 2021. He lives with his family in Black Mountain, NC. His website is michaelhettich.com.

ISSN 2472-338X
© 2020