Cranky One: Kevin Craft

literary journal

Kevin Craft

Once Was Crazy

Squat in a limb of the antic oak,
the one star of evening
leans toward your window
and presses its soft nose against the glass.

Having subdued the neighborhood dogs,
twilight leaps the fence and climbs
up onto the roof: we hear it
scuffling under eaves, toying

with the paper wasps. We hear it tip-
toeing the apex, tempting fate.
In the kitchen, the remains
of roasted pepper, garlic, pesto on toasted bread

sag and crumble on ceramic plates,
but a little wine still flourishes
on the head of a glass stem and in the dark
corners of your mouth. There’s no use

trying to sleep now with all the stars
at the window staring luridly.
No use talking when the walls have ears.
Might as well spin the bottle.

Might as well stay up with the moon
swinging in the broken oak—
with the mad wasps swarming
their paper lantern hives.

Kevin Craft has poems recent or forthcoming in VERSE, AGNI, Antioch Review, Gulf Coast, Willow Springs, and Poetry. He is an Artist Trust Fellow and has also received grants from the Bogliasco Foundation (Italy) and Camargo Foundation (France). He teaches writing in Everett, Washington, and in Rome.

home | issue 1 table of contents

Kevin Craft

Once Was Crazy

Squat in a limb of the antic oak, the one star of evening leans toward your window and presses its soft nose against the glass.

Having subdued the neighborhood dogs, twilight leaps the fence and climbs up onto the roof: we hear it scuffling under eaves, toying

with the paper wasps. We hear it tip- toeing the apex, tempting fate. In the kitchen, the remains of roasted pepper, garlic, pesto on toasted bread

sag and crumble on ceramic plates, but a little wine still flourishes on the head of a glass stem and in the dark corners of your mouth. There’s no use

trying to sleep now with all the stars at the window staring luridly. No use talking when the walls have ears. Might as well spin the bottle.

Might as well stay up with the moon swinging in the broken oak— with the mad wasps swarming their paper lantern hives.