Despy Boutris "Evening in the Woods"

EVENING IN THE WOODS

Like a wolf I made my way deep

into the woods. I looked at the lines

on my hands, level as linens, veins

visible, branchlike, the subdued blue

breaking through. And the trees above

turned hooklike, holding the afternoon

rain like winter coats. I lay with pine

needles in the mud. Lungs

expanded. Time stilled like the city

always seems to after a storm,

despite all the wreckage. Everyone

needs stillness sometimes.

We all need a minute to lie

on the forest floor, don’t we?

Breathing, breathing.

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Bio: Despy Boutris's writing has been published in Copper Nickel, American Poetry Review, The Gettysburg Review, Colorado Review, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. Currently, she serves as Poetry Editor for Gulf Coast, Guest Editor for Palette Poetry and Frontier, and Editor-in-Chief of The West Review.