“so small the way a church purrs in the rain”

so small the way

a church purrs in the rain

(here

a wind

there

a wind),

puts fur on its lips

and calls back

to the loose bam

bam

Bam

of a beak

lost deep

deep

down

a dark bolt of

a tree

next here comes

frost it is

so bright so

too tight

no

it can’t

thaw

but shut,

a church

too hard

for the moon

to chew.

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NOAH HALE is a poet from Seaford, Delaware, who currently attends St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.