James Thomas Stevens
I’m guessing the rabbits
were always here, but the one-eyed dog
in the windowed hallway was
bed-intent. Blind.
Now that he is gone,
the rabbits are rampant.
I’m guessing the corn stalks/stover
were always dagger-like at midday
before evening’s cool release.
But homebound I see them doubly.
I see because I’ve been double–sensed
the mole above my beloved’s
shallow navel. It has always been there.
How rarely and careful
we see one another now.
And when he leaves, there is
the sound glass bowls make
when one is nested inside the other.
I too make this sound, when
waking alone in the middle of the night
I slide back into myself.
James Thomas Stevens, Aronhió:ta’s, (Akwesasne Mohawk) attended the Institute of American Indian Arts, Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and Brown University. Stevens is a 2000 Whiting Award recipient, has authored eight books of poetry including, Combing the Snakes from His Hair and A Bridge Dead in the Water. His next book, The Golden Book, is due out from SplitLevel Press in April, 2021. He is currently Chair of the undergraduate Creative Writing Department at the Institute of American Indian Arts.