Richard Widerkehr
The Whale's Eye
- written after Chloe's old friend sends me this thank you card from
the Museum of Natural History
We cannot know if my sister read or even opened
your letter I forwarded to her, cannot know
if she remembers the blue whale suspended
from a wire in that atrium tall as our school
auditorium where Mrs. Stoges read us psalms
about gates and thrones. The whale's small eye...
If Chloe hears voices, wears her ragged hood,
listens to talk radio about living off the grid...
Stars aren't stars, bro, she says, snow isn't snow.
Bio
Richard Widerkehr's work has appeared at Muse Pie Press, Writer's Almanac, Verse Daily, and others. He earned his M.A. from Columbia University and won two Hopwood first prizes for poetry at the University of Michigan. His latest book is In The Presence Of Absence (MoonPath Press). He has three chapbooks and a novel, Sedimental Journey (Tarragon Books). His new book, At The Grace Cafe, is forthcoming from Main Street Rag.