Steve Lautermilch

Steve Lautermilch Poems

The Best Poem Of Steve Lautermilch

On A Hanging Scroll By Shih K'Ofa

the character
shu,
meaning
to write,
appears,
the brush
leaving
on woven silk
the two or three
quick strokes--
a wing
upraised, at the start
of its wingbeat,
the tiny legs
of the angel
bent,
hard running,
and in front of
the rounded, perfect
O
of the mouth,
blowing
with all its
breath--
the detached,
invered,
floating comma
of a baseball cap,
about to be blown away
by the wind.

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