Day five brings us Henry Hughes, with a poem entitled “Dark Spring” from his first full-length collection, Men Holding Eggs (© 2004, Mammoth Books), winner of the Oregon Book Award for Poetry in 2004.

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE POEM

Here we fall into the lull of a dark sea while a mix of images and sounds — two midnight crows, rats, starting cars, sharks — hurl away at us. Henry leads us in with an easy, rhyming gait, then tears the moment away in a sudden primal act that leaves us stranded helpless with a mournful, unattainable wish.

Dark Spring

The moon blind over spring tide,
Two midnight crows warm a budding ash
As rats cling and glove to hide
From cars started by a watchman’s flash.
In the Island Sound bladed sharks
Clasp and copulate with rolling rounds—
Twenty minutes joining in the dark.
Few would believe in this, though some must
Have imagined truth beneath the ark.
Only I saw the boy rip the female’s center
And four shark pups uncoil
In mixed blood. If I could just dive
these lights beneath the pier,
I’d drown reason, the last moon of my year.

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A Poet a Day is a month-long celebration of poets and poetry, in honor of National Poetry Month. Writers reserve all rights to their work, and all work appears with their permission.

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