October 9
By Jesse Nathan
For today I’ll try to memorize the strange wide shape
of two writhing coast oaks
the way a fog looks like pashmina
laid on the rim of the hills
the way a nurse kneads and pulls
my shoulder to find a place to pierce
and finally drives the sweet vaccine through my tattoo
of a barnswallow, mystic advisor—
bird he says he’s never heard of
Source: Poetry (June 2025)