Keith Ratzlaff

[jaiderai]

Keith Ratzlaff has a new book. He's one of my favorite poets, and his Man Under Pear Tree is one of my favorite poetry collections. I missed him, but now he is back.

Here's a poem from his new book:

The Struggle between Plenty and Thankfulness

Today when I framed
two crows
in the notch of the ash tree,

I thought of order.
Rain
was in the forecast

and presto, rain. Then
three crows
in the field tilted the world

as if imbalance were
a blessing
dropped in the cup I keep

for blessings. Then
four crows
in the grass, five

on the wire, my plate
heaped up
with six crows.

And to give thanks,
to tell God
six crows were enough,

I lit prayer papers
in the garden --
their orange slippers,

their black, abstract
petals like
anti-confetti, like

hopeful ash, like
a thousand crows.
Then, a thousand crows.

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(the new book is called Then, a Thousand Crows: you can get it here)