Raven, Helsinki Harbor
The raven stood in a baby carriage and croaked to passersby. Her voice was a purple softness, really not much.
Something about a dingy bird is a question—where shall we work and live—or how did it come to this, a thing called “in public” standing near the ocean among balloons and pies?
Where did the baby vanish to?
A breeze rides in with its assignment. A woman laughs because she thinks she’s partly immortal.
Copyright © 2019 by Stephen Kuusisto. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 18, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.
“My childhood occurred in Helsinki, just a few short steps from the harbor. I return there frequently as the Baltic holds deep significance for me. Birds. Darkness. Wind.”
—Stephen Kuusisto
Stephen Kuusisto
Stephen Kuusisto is the author of the poetry collections Letters to Borges (Copper Canyon Press, 2013) and Only Bread, Only Light (Copper Canyon Press, 2000).