Move With Open Hands

Moon hooked
into darkness

and a fox sniffing
at the chimney;

throat murmur,
body sidesteps

the straight edge;                   
dislocated memory

of blood-sticky
wire, pawed

from soft spaces. 
Moist muzzle

of unbending rock-
water — sound

without terminus.

Skin of Fog

He wants
and needs

to be
well punished;

the crow that eats
its own beak.

A disguise
hung out by night

and the leather
chair. Boreal owl

dips back, slick
when the work

is done.


Adam Day is the author of Badger, Apocrypha (Poetry Society of America, 2010), Model of a City in Civil War (Sarabande, 2015), Left-Handed Wolf (LSU Press, 2020) and the recipient of a PEN America Literary Award. He is founder and publisher of Action, Spectacle. More: Twitter @adamdayy

Natasha Kessler is the author of Dismantling the Rabbit Altar (Coconut Books, 2014) and the collaborative chapbook SDVIG (Alice Blue Books, 2012). Kessler teaches creative writing in Omaha and is the founder and artist of SugarWolves Macramé.