We saw a goose in the courthouse yard.
Then more flew in and settled
on the grass. The day was sinking hard
to dusk, but the geese paid it no mind,
just croaked and rustled by the pond.
The path encircling them was lined
with pithy weeds that spit fronds high.
End-of-workday walkers passed us by,
mothers with strollers, shy
tourists, acting awkwardly at home. The water
glistened, increasingly, as the sun slaked
itself on winter-fingered tree limbs. The ache
of colors intensified the sky for one moment,
then slid to indigo. And off we went,
wandering towards home, and fell in bed,
as if this were some grand event.
Magda Andrews-Hoke lives in Philadelphia, PA. She has studied literature, religion, and linguistics and was a 2019 recipient of the Frederick Mortimer Clapp Fellowship for Poetry. Her poems can be found in Commonweal Magazine, The Friends Journal, and elsewhere.