ISSUE 48
August 2010

Chris Anderson

 

Chris Anderson is a Professor of English at Oregon State University and a Catholic deacon. He has published a number of books, including a book of poems. A new book of his poems, Consolations, is forthcoming by Airlie Press.

Password    

We're trying to get into Sue's computer
but we can't because she's dead.

We don't know the password.

Just last week I was sitting across from her
at the Thai restaurant and I could have asked her

and she would have told me.

How little would have been required to cross

that threshold. Just a breath.
A movement of the tongue. A sound.

Walking in the forest today, down the road,

I found a long smooth tail feather from a hawk,
gray and black and dirty white.

I brought it home with me.

I like how hard and stiff the quill is, like bone,
and yet how light, too, how hollow.

Holding it, you think of flight—

though you also think of Dante

and Shakespeare and Keats,
dipping it in ink and starting to write.


 

 

Chris Anderson: Poetry
Copyright ©2010 The Cortland Review Issue 48The Cortland Review