Wren's Nest - Vic Chesnutt

Like at the wren’s nest

Like at rock eagle

Ironies swirl and hearts are twisted taut

Around their pivot points

The stag scrapes his felt on a scrubby dogwood tree

Like at the warm springs

Like at key club

Residuals are what get to one

Reach toxic levels with time

Even the pretty fawn is full of wolf worms in the summer

Oh, so horribly intensely I prayed

Let me evaporate

But the dying autumn leaves are beautiful, too

Like on the flint river

Like at the mica mines

Conversations escalated

Voices trembled and cracked

The barn owl’s white belly is like a flash bulb

Instantly illuminated by a moonbeam

As he swoops silently before us

Toward a fateful meeting in the forest

Oh, so horribly intensely I prayed

Let me evaporate