Athena Kildegaard
Athena Kildegaard's most recent book is Prairie Midden (Tinderbox Editions.) Her poems have appeared in the Colorado Review, Prairie Schooner, Beloit Poetry Journal, Ecotone, and elsewhere, and they have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, featured on Poetry Daily and Verse Daily, and set to music by several composers. She teaches at the University of Minnesota Morris.
Ode to Air
Snow flurries on tax day, sky a saw'sblade. Inside, scratch of pen, the dry air
of pent-up mammalian yearning. How muchtime we spend on-line in the airless
rooms of social media. Lies, fake news,conspiracies of demon sex, the casual airing
of unsupported claims. Still, I read a mastodonfemur turned to dust when it was lifted into air.
Once I watched a red-winged blackbird landon a cattail which arced and spilled gold into the air.
We live in the Eremozoic Age—E. O. Wilson's term—the age of loneliness. Think of it without sucking air.
I'm going out anyway. I'll look for tracks to follow,I'll surrender to the cold, to the companionable cold air.
of pent-up mammalian yearning. How muchtime we spend on-line in the airless
rooms of social media. Lies, fake news,conspiracies of demon sex, the casual airing
of unsupported claims. Still, I read a mastodonfemur turned to dust when it was lifted into air.
Once I watched a red-winged blackbird landon a cattail which arced and spilled gold into the air.
We live in the Eremozoic Age—E. O. Wilson's term—the age of loneliness. Think of it without sucking air.
I'm going out anyway. I'll look for tracks to follow,I'll surrender to the cold, to the companionable cold air.
Ode to Bud
Lilac, linden, clematis, hydrangea,maple, dogwood, weigala, all in bud.
Cypress knees, Jupiter, Christmas cactus,news of death, this poem, all in bud.
Patience, bee hives, a turn of phrase,balloons on a cartoon, spare truths, all in bud.
Kindergartners in a line, embers, first kiss,last breath, petrichor and rain before, all in bud.
Justice, spore, lightning, spawn, roe,nipple, fluster, damp, joy, burst, all in bud.
Geode, firework, orgasm, whiskers, itch,desire, volcano, hummingbird, crop row, all in bud.
Tulip, ear hole, nosegay, snifter, pupil, prayer, protest, hope and spring and all in bud.
Cypress knees, Jupiter, Christmas cactus,news of death, this poem, all in bud.
Patience, bee hives, a turn of phrase,balloons on a cartoon, spare truths, all in bud.
Kindergartners in a line, embers, first kiss,last breath, petrichor and rain before, all in bud.
Justice, spore, lightning, spawn, roe,nipple, fluster, damp, joy, burst, all in bud.
Geode, firework, orgasm, whiskers, itch,desire, volcano, hummingbird, crop row, all in bud.
Tulip, ear hole, nosegay, snifter, pupil, prayer, protest, hope and spring and all in bud.
