A poem by Robert Joe Stout

Gray cotton pants

twist around the stake—its bones—

as quivering eyes

try to focus on dreams

disappearing through the rotting fence.

I call to it and the trees answer.

The birds fold inward

and words

wither into seasons

as predictable as the crows

—or my leaning against a hoe,

listening.

Robert Joe Stout is the author of two collections of poetry, Monkey Screams (FutureCycle Press) and A Perfect Throw (Aldrich Press), and six chapbooks. He is a freelance journalist in Oaxaca, Mexico.