News Headlines From The Homer Noble Farm
By Paul Muldoon
I
That case-hardened cop.
A bull moose in a boghole
brought him to a stop.
II
From his grassy knoll
he has you in his crosshairs,
the accomplice mole.
III
The sword once a share.
This forest a fresh-faced farm.
This stone once a stair.
IV
The birch crooks her arm,
as if somewhat more inclined
to welcome the swarm.
V
He has, you will find,
two modes only, the chipmunk:
fast-forward; rewind.
VI
The smell, like a skunk,
of coffee about to perk.
Thelonius Monk.
VII
They're the poker work
of some sort of woodpecker,
these holes in the bark.
VIII
My new fact checker
claims that pilus means "pestle."
My old fact checker.
IX
Those Rose and Thistle.
Where the hummingbird drops in
to wet his whistle.
X
Behind the wood bin
a garter snake snaps itself,
showing us some skin.
XI
Like most bits of delf,
the turtle's seen its best
on one's neighbor's shelf.
XII
Riding two abreast
on their stripped-down, souped-up bikes,
bears in leather vests.
XIII
The eye-shaded shrike.
BIRD BODIES BURIED IN BOG'S
a headline he'll spike.
XIV
Steady, like a log
riding a sawmill's spillway,
the steady coydog.
XV
The cornet he plays
was Bolden's, then Beiderbecke's,
this lonesome blue jay.
XVI
Some fresh auto wreck.
Slumped over a horn. Sump pool.
The frog's neck-braced neck.
XVII
Brillo pads? Steel wool?
The regurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgitations, what,
of a long-eared owl?
XVIII
The jet with the jot.
The drive-in screen with the sky.
The blood with the blot.
XIX
How all seems to vie,
not just my sleeping laptop
with the first firefly.
Copyright Credit: Paul Muldoon, "News Headlines from the Homer Noble Farm" from Moy Sand and Gravel. Copyright © 2002 by Paul Muldoon. Used by permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, LLC, http://us.macmillan.com/fsg. All rights reserved.
Caution: Users are warned that this work is protected under copyright laws and downloading is strictly prohibited. The right to reproduce or transfer the work via any medium must be secured with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
Caution: Users are warned that this work is protected under copyright laws and downloading is strictly prohibited. The right to reproduce or transfer the work via any medium must be secured with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
Source: Moy Sand and Gravel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002)