New Poetry by John Swain

The Threaded Loop

Gown of salmon and mantelet

over the coast

she shoulders with the winter sun. 

I finger a pearl clasp through

the threaded loop

and then her back shows, descending

into the sea. 

Running with a chasing wind

behind the elk,

her death day split my tongue

into ribs and flint

to give the timber wolf 

of the forest and mountain cloud

bleeding the fawn on the ground.

The wild light shines

without our prayers or offering,

I will still keep hers

in a metal box of smooth beach stones

and torn cloth and knife teeth

singing to the killed

we will be alone. 

- John Swain 2016

John Swain lives in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.  Least Bittern Books published his second collection, Under the Mountain Born.