Charles Goodrich: "Evening Star"

Fork down hay

for the white-face steers.

Sit in the hay mow door

watching the horses graze,

chewing myself a dry clover sprig.

Long day over.

No evening plans.

Dust motes drift

on the ambering light.

Pigeons flap and coo in the rafters.

First star now

low in the east.

Sweat cools

and crusts on my face,

muscles lean back on their bones

and all thoughts heal down

to a low whistling.

"Evening Star" by Charles Goodrich. From Insects of South Corvallis (Cloudbank Books, 2003). © Charles Goodrich. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

Art credit: Untitled photograph taken by Gary Anthes inside the barn at the Kuerner farm in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, where the late artist Andrew Wyeth made more than 1,000 drawings and paintings.