A Pity

By REBECCA FOUST

The creature was flushed from the snow
& flung like a tiny, limp footbag
before I could catch up to cup it below
my hands. While they collared the dog,
the vole throbbed through my skin
like a heart I held. No blood, but when
I let go, it trailed a useless hind limb
as it funneled back down into its den.

Sometimes it’s kinder to let things be killed
I thought, reading the texts that revealed
Love’s frailty again—his latest, last cheat
& now, finally, my own. Before I brought
the boot down on our marriage, I held it,
tender & maimed. Then I did what was right.

 

Rebecca Foust‘s book ONLY received a Publishers Weekly starred review. Foust’s poems were runners-up for the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize; won the Pablo Neruda, C. P. Cavafy, and James Hearst poetry prizes; and are in recent issues of Five Points, Ploughshares, Poetry, and Quarterly West.

[Purchase Issue 25 here.]

From the beginning, The Common has brought you transportive writing and exciting new voices. We are committed to supporting writers and maintaining free, unrestricted access to our website, but we can’t do it without you. Become an integral part of our global community of readers and writers by donating today. No amount is too small. Thank you!

A Pity

Related Posts

Image of a tomato seedling

Talks with the Besieged: Documentary Poetry from Occupied Ukraine  

ALEX AVERBUCH
Russians are already in Starobilsk / what nonsense / Dmytrovka and Zhukivka – who is there? / half a hundred bears went past in the / direction of Oleksiivka / write more clearly / what’s the situation in Novoaidar? / the bridge by café Natalie got blown up / according to unconfirmed reports

A Tour of America

MORIEL ROTHMAN-ZECHER
This afternoon I am well, thank you. / Walking down Main Street in Danville, KY. / The heavy wind so sensuous. / Last night I fell- / ated four different men back in / Philadelphia season lush and slippery / with time and leaves. / Keep your eyes to yourself, yid. / As a kid, I pledged only to engage / in onanism on special holidays.

cover for "True Mistakes" by Lena Moses-Schmitt

Giving the Poem a Body: Megan Pinto interviews Lena Moses-Schmitt

LENA MOSES-SCHMITT
I think sometimes movement can be used to show how thought is made manifest outside the body. And also just more generally: when you leave the house, when you are walking, your thoughts change because your environment changes, and your body is changing. Moving is a way of your consciousness interacting with the world.