The Hawk and the Octopus
for Brenda Phillips, in memory
A hawk flies in the blue sky she painted,
over a bright green house
I recognize as hers.
An oak tree shadows the yard,
the hawk’s shadow too small to see,
small as the tumor shadowing her brain.
A preying hawk and malignancy,
the oak tentacled, lobed,
dark as octopus ink,
shadowing a brain I recognize as hers—
until it belonged to shadows
we never imagined.
*
Laura Foley is the author of nine poetry collections. Sledding the Valley of the Shadow (Fernwood Press) is forthcoming in 2024. She has won a Narrative Magazine Poetry Prize, The Poetry Box Editor’s Choice Award, The Common Good Books Poetry Prize, the Bisexual Book Award, Atlanta Review’s Grand Prize and others.
