Michael Simms
Bio: Michael Simms is an American poet and literary publisher. His poems have been published in literary journals and magazines including 5 A.M., Poetry Magazine, Black Warrior Review, Mid-American Review, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Southwest Review, and West Branch. He is the founder and editor of Vox Populi. His forthcoming title Nightjar and his most recent book American Ash are available from Ragged Sky Press.
Evening
Always it will be late summer in your mind:
Birches give off a full and dark light
With a motion you know will abide and return
Every evening. You are changed
By small things: an elm seed spins
To earth, and like your talent for the cello
The possibilities remain enclosed.
Being ordinary makes you a hero--
Sweeping the porch, looking at the sky,
You become more than yourself. The solace for being
Dull is being perfectly at ease with the world.
All afternoon
The afternoon sails in and out the window,
And the first sar stars the lake singing.
from American Ash (Ragged Sky Press)