July 31: Poet of the Week, Keith Taylor, "Sign"

A couple weeks ago, I went to hear poet Keith Taylor talk about poetry.  It was a great night.  A few years ago, I had the privilege of doing a poetry reading with Keith.  He was funny and insightful and humble that day, and he hasn't changed at all.

Keith Taylor is the Poet of the Week, and tonight's poem comes from my new favorite poetry collection, The Bird-while.  I spent most of today traveling through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, along Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.  Saw some cranes.  Lots of spruce and jack pine.  Water.  Waves and waves and waves.

As I was driving, Saint Marty thought a lot about Keith Taylor's poems.

Sign

by:  Keith Taylor

After long walks down sandy power-line cuts
looking
for wolf tracks

I hear
of a pile of scat on a trail to the bog
and find

turd-shaped clumps of deer fur
filled
with ragged pieces of bone.