Ernest Hilbert Poems

The gull pulls bags from trash and drags them clear.
He's big as a cat, a blur of snow and soot.
He pokes until debris spills down the pier.
He's clumsy, and somehow he's lost a foot.
...

Here in the state park, we hear talk of Wal-Mart's
Amazing deals, about how well Google Maps
Displays the camping grounds. When we retire,
At sundown, firecrackers and shouts go till all hours
...

He's stranded in a place remote and sunless,
Wonders if, in fact, he brought himself
Here or was placed by another on this shelf,
So he rests on stone to watch the old stars turn,
...

The Cyclops gets it in the eye,
Goliath by God's will,
And now we think the little guy
Will always get the kill.
...

I find I'm surprised by some happiness
As I move from a building's big shadow
Into a merciless passage of sunlight.
It annihilates the depths, distances, and angles
...

We watch the hectic scene
Through aquarium glass
From our chilled leather seats
As if before a stage:
...

11,000 feet

The jeep clambers through shingle and sand.
It lunges and jolts, scrums through creeks,
...

We thought they came from distant moons.
We couldn't tell at first if they had eyes,
But we learned they have mouths. Big ones. Good God!
A storm of great worms squirms across the skies.
...

We danced gawkily, our soles squishing
Into soggy grass at the top of the hill
In the rainstorm that night, city skyline
A cluster of crystals far off, wishing
...

Before you dashed with me through
Fish-scale pours of tropical storm
In the falling-down city I felt
Too long like a king of an unsettled
...