Suddenly This Devastation after Jack Gilbert

by Helen Vitoria

Suddenly this devastation
These horses

The chestnuts gone roan

And the bays gone black
A terrible black
In red barns
Their warm bodies

In the cold meadow

Their warm bodies
Among all the paddocks

Their absence
The horses who are always
Not there

I have been easy with these fields
Too long
Too familiar with all that is empty
Grief has been a habit
Now
Suddenly

These horses

Forecast

last winter an insignificant amount of snow fell on the mountain
in its absence there was a series of vowel sounds that only tangled bodies make
a window lift for cool air to disturb the din of want
                that floats and thins above flesh

on the porch, yellow hornets were beginning to morph, build silk caps synergize nuptial flights

only to be confused by unseasonable warmth

a humming for the things we want and wait for
this is no way to live–

Spring will bring rain          some mud