9th Annual Juried Reading Finalist

Josie Raney
Josie Raney received her M.F.A. in 1999 from the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow and a finalist in the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship competition. Her work has appeared in Water~Stone and Five Points. She recently completed a poetry collection, Dowsabel, which is currently seeking a publisher.

Chicago Love Story

Bird tree
is what we call the tiny spruce in the neighbors' yard,
the one that, mysteriously, fills its branches in winter

with wave after dark wave of thrush. Bird tree,
in the playroom language of love, that we make up,

that leads circles to straighten into flat lines, squares
round enough to roll with it. February in Chicago, and Fu

says the door of the school across the street, in half-finished
rebellion chased indoors by cold. Meantime, I live inside the Loop

of your arms uncomfortably, reeling forward precariously
only to snap back into myself, like water shrinking to a panel of ice

that we break into two, arguing over who gets which half.
I don't need to tell you that the tree we named is wiped clean

each night by flight, and I know you, too, dream of destinations
outside the vows I hold you to. Winter is the best season

for desire, weather enough to kill off what has kept us, so far,
planting our silly flags on separate plots, declaring victories

as hollow as airbourne bones. Let's turn one more black page
down behind us, love, add two lone birds twittering in an empty tree,

choosing the city.

-- Josie Raney

© 2003 The Poetry Center of Chicago
All Rights Revert Back to the Author Upon Publication.
No Portion of this poem may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author.