Corbett Buchly

moonlight

a golden shovel after ‘Little Sleep’s-Head Sprouting in the Moonlight’ by Galway Kinnell

I think of the tired oak in my
backyard, more branches broken
than still grow. I think of your arms
too weary to rise. I will never heal
from your absence. The leaves themselves
have let go their hold and lay silent around
the oak’s long roots. What was it you
last said? The words are lost and I
wish I had made notes. I could have heard
your deep grumble, could have told you
those small details. What can I tell
you now? I can only shuffle these feet through the
layer of leaves returning to the soil, hiding from the sun.

Corbett Buchly’s poems have appeared in more than 30 journals, including Dream Catcher, SLAB, Rio Grande Review, North Dakota Quarterly, and Barrow Street. He is an alumnus of Texas Christian University and the professional writing program at the University of Southern California. You can find him online at buchly.com.

Corbett wrote the following about his poem:

There is an interesting connection created by using a line from Galway Kinnell’s poetry in discussing my father’s difficult passing. I named my son Kinnell after the poet, and many of my recent poems deal with connecting those two father-son relationships. I see this poem in dialogue with a greater body of work.