Suddenly, a Goshawk
for CM
35 and I thought I looked as fine as
I ever would. Nothing hurt or maybe
I just couldn’t feel it yet. I saw my body:
almost half-past blossom or beautiful.
And my arms were the best of me, barely
thought of except when caught embracing.
Soft, sometimes; fierce when the embracer
felt unsure, was wanting. It was then I knew,
with certainty, how two bodies, enveloped,
are hummingbird and verbena, honey and
Shirley Horn (yes, I digress) singing You Won’t
Forget Me until the jukebox knows Miss Horn’s
harmonics by heart. Then & without warning:
heart-hurt, heart-block —shell —murmur
—urchin as the remnants of my body blinked.
Okay I thought: this is as it should be but damn,
when did promises turn into such passersby?
Ditto the passing of the cling, the clutch, until
suddenly, a long-lost friend, so ecstatic to see
me again, enfolded me with her arms as though
she was a wide-winged goshawk, enraptured.
Just that, beauty being the most sweet memory.
Lynne Thompson served as Los Angeles’ 4th Poet Laureate and received a Poet Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets. In September 2024, she represented Los Angeles at the Cultural Olympiad’s Poétique Marathon in Paris. Thompson is the author of four collections of poetry: Beg No Pardon, Start With A Small Guitar, Fretwork, and Blue on a Blue Palette. A lawyer by training and the recipient of multiple awards and fellowships, Thompson serves on the Boards of The Poetry Foundation, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Scripps College where she served a four year term as Chair of the Board of Trustees. She currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of Cave Canem, a literary nonprofit organization based in New York.