Geese
by Tom
Lynner
This is Michael Carey for Voices
from the Prairie a weekly sampling from the rich soil of Iowa’s literary
tradition. Today’s poem is entitled "Geese," by Tom Lynner.
Tom is from Des Moines where he is president of his family’s real estate
management business. Along with Jim Autry he is also the co-founder of the Des
Moines National Poetry Festival. Although obviously, a "city boy,"
Tom keeps his attention attuned to nature. In this short, quiet but observant
poem he quietly and subtly plays with our attention just as nature has played
with his. Listen how he slips in many nice metaphoric rifts all the while accurately
describing what is physically happening around him.
Geese
Honking half a mile up,
shifting line of crescent,
arrowhead or wave,
each outside wing beating
in new sky, the inside
working easier in the draft.
We hear the muffled clatter
behind us on the ground,
like dogs far off,
and first look back
before we see the truth
high up: the strung-together
broken necklace flying north.
"Geese" by Tom Lynner Lynner originally appeared in Voices
on the Landscape published by Loess Hills Books.
For Voices from the Prairie and Humanities Iowa, this is Michael Carey hoping you continue to hear the music blooming all around you.
Biography
Tom Lynner has published poetry in City View, Kentucky Review, River Oak Review and The North American Review, and also enjoys working with the Des Moines National Poetry Festival which he co-founded. Born in Miami, he grew up in Des Moines, attended Cornell College and then went on to SUNY at Buffalo for his M.A. and Ph.D. He taught English at Drake University one year, and worked nights for three years in the Des Moines Register newsroom before leaving to become president of his family’s real estate management business.