Ron Rash Death Poems
- 1. Whippoorwill
The night Silas Broughton died
neighbors at his bedside heard
a dirge rising from high limbs
in the nearby woods, and thought
... - 2. The Men Who Raised The Dead
If they had hair it was gray,
the backs of their hands wormy
currents of blue veins, old men
the undertaker believed
... - 3. The Corpse Bird
Bed-sick she heard the bird's call
fall soft as a pall that night
quilts tightened around her throat,
her grey eyes narrowed, their light
... - 4. The Bridge
Barbed wire snags like briars when
fence posts rot in goldenrod,
the cows are gone, the cowpath
a thinning along the creek
... - 5. The Ascent
Some thought she had slipped, the plank
glazed slick with ice, or maybe
already cold beyond care,
drowsy and weary, bare feet
...
