From “The Stuff of Hollywood”

Niki Herd

After ice cream. Somewhere off Clear Creek &
196. Makeshift sign. Uncle Sam
white as the lines on the flag in hand mouths
love it or leave it. You must admire
the gall of white men in carjacked country.
Nearby a brief pond. Its skin a stillness.
Then up. A bird of prey searches for its—

Goose. On a depthless pond. Deepest tunnel
of unbecoming. How does one undrown
from the incivility of this world?
In the distant. Chimes. A musical score.
A willow bends its back toward dirt &
some star will hang low on tomorrow’s walk
& the moon. Watch it refuse my hello—

Niki Herd is a poet, editor, and essayist. She is the author of The Stuff of Hollywood (Copper Canyon Press, 2024).

Themes

About this Poem

“A bunch of us were in residency, in Wyoming, doing what artists do. My friend, Viet, who was familiar with the area, suggested we check out the neighboring town of Buffalo. While there, we visited a tiny sugar-filled candy shop and a lovely pottery store; and then, somewhere off the main drag, was this sign. Formally, the poem must work as a complete piece, and each stanza must work as its own individual poem. It’s what I call a broken sonnet.”
—Niki Herd

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Bird

Yesterday, at Shepherd and Gray, the parking lot was
filled with birds, black birds, actually grackles. It was a grackle
lot; instead of a bumper on a car, there were ten grackles, instead
of a sunroof, fifty grackles sat high, their bodies shimmers
under cheap strip mall lights as shoppers delayed their spending
to pull out phones and take shots, such spectators we were,

Niki Herd

2020

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From “The Stuff of Hollywood”

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Bird

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From “The Stuff of Hollywood”

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