POETRY

Returning Home

By Athena Kildegaard     VOLUME 56 No. 2

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once we returned
to plums the color of sunset
now it's fog and the rimed
branches of spruce and poplar
once an owl leapt
then crossed the gravel
its head and shoulders
bound to the dark
once our first child
rode swaddled in my lap
that homecoming fresh
as peeling an orange
once I came home alone
and stood in the dark
hoping for the rhythm of breath
once you came through
the door covered in snow
and shook stars into
the living room
that is how it is now
shaking and delight

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ATHENA KILDEGAARD is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Prairie Midden (Tinderbox Editions), and is the co-editor of Rocked by the Waters: Poems of Motherhood. Her poems have been set to music by Jennifer Higdon, Linda Kachelmeier, Libby Larsen, and many other composers. She teaches at the University of Minnesota Morris.


VOLUME 56 No. 2