Lesson From Nature, by Devon Balwit

Cat in the Fields, by Arie van ’t Riet (Netherlands). Contemporary. Click image for artist website.

Lesson from Nature 


The cat’s bones hold it up
    in a field of flowers, 

spinal chord a stem for a head 
    seeded with desire,

ears’ leaves lifting to the hum
    of bees, the rise

and fall of wings, paws delicate 
    between stalks, awaiting

mice and voles that will come,
    the serration of ribs,

foliage, jaw, giving the light an edge 
    with which to cut.  

The artist has hand-coloured two blooms,
    high and low, 

an homage to each gentle corolla, but 
    haloed by the stripping sun,
    
the bowed skull remains the focal point,
    hungry, hungry.

Devon Balwit

Devon Balwit is a writer and teacher from Portland, OR. She has two chapbooks forthcoming--'how the blessed travel' from Maverick Duck Press and 'Forms Most Marvelous' from dancing girl press. Her recent work has found many homes, among them: Oyez, The Cincinnati Review, Red Paint Hill, Timberline Review, Sow's Ear Poetry Review, Trailhead Review, and Oracle.