When the Beast Passes Through

Keith Taylor

Keith Taylor

Woke to snow-light
in our last significant snow

on a quiet day
in a time of quiet days

and tracks in the snow
up from the avenue

fresh tracks
very fresh

canid tracks
but no dog

walks like this
in a straight line

one foot directly
before the last

up and out
toward our neighbors

When the Beast Passes Through was accepted as to MSUL's Short Edition program as part of a call for submissions around the theme of "Home" and in coordination with the MSU Broad Art Museum's exhibit "Where We Dwell."

Keith Taylor has authored or edited 18 books and chapbooks, most recently Let Them Be Left: Isle Royale Poems. His last full-length collection, The Bird-while won the Bronze medal for the Foreword/Indies Poetry Book of the Year. He has received Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, among others. He worked for most of 20 years as a bookseller, before teaching for a few years in the writing programs at the University of Michigan.

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