Consider
A poem by Kristine Rae Anderson

Consider

Consider how you enter a poem, toe dipping in,
worried it’s cold, maybe full of seaweed
or you stride in asking for the best table by a window

Consider how lines begin: the lordly capital letter
asserting You know or Look here
leading you to the tenth-story balcony rail, leaning over

Consider how an image lifts you out of a poem
back to last night’s dinner conversation, winter lamp
throwing yellow light against the foresty wall

Consider how a poem recalls a song: you among off-
key sing-alongers, So This Is Christmas,
and Lennon’s voice rising urgently in the background

Consider how easily—like your first sip of warm coffee,
the kitchen not yet recovered from a freezing-cold
overnight—a poem might go down

Consider how a poem’s lines can steer you along
gravelly one-lane roads, the last traveler’s wheels
having left ruts you can follow or avoid

Consider how words transform into sky, you just trying
to find the garbage can in the dark, surprised
by a glowing fingernail of moon holding counsel with the stars

About the Author:

Kristine Rae Anderson is a Pushcart-nominated poet and author of the chapbook Field of Everlasting. Her poems have recently appeared in SALT, Literary Mama, Science Write Now, and elsewhere. She lives with her family and their three-legged rescue dog in southern California, where she volunteers as a literacy tutor. www.kristineraeanderson.com

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