Goliath

I was higher than the bicycle I rode in a circle
until the grass wore away and wouldn’t come back.
I was higher than the hardpan, I thought
in the dark, as it lay in a circle: Goliath was in the weeds
out beyond the house lights, hiding, and I was flying.
When my chest passed into the unseeable,
Goliath hit me in the pinpoint of my heart, yelling
“Black Dog! White Dog! Yellow Dog!” as if he could pop me
out of his mind. But I was trying to give myself a chance
to break and win the breathless wishbone of air I’d
feel for a few seconds inside me. Isn’t that how
you improve your lot? To believe you are only afraid
and only ugly, and so thankful that no one inside
was having a problem with me or Goliath
fighting in that darkened field, and no one was going
to get help, or shutting the flood lights off on me either.

—Heidi Poon

For more information on Carlow University’s MFA program, please contact Dr. Ellie Wymard at 412-578-6346.

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