Sometimes you turn to poetry

the way you turn to another country.

Everything is better, more humane.

You notice things you wouldn’t

otherwise. You notice things.

Watching gardeners trim

branches for birds to fly through

reminds you of holes in your own country’s

trees, which only make room

for wires. The entire center perforated

like a dart board in a dive bar.

After awhile, however, you recall

those wires carry a language you know.

 

 

&

 

‘

 

Will Schutt is the author of the forthcoming book Westerly, winner of the 2012 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. His poems and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in Agni, FIELD, The New Republic, and elsewhere.

“A Kind of Poetry” first appeared in TLR Loss Control.