Steve Evans

I rode the horse sitting backwards.

I remember that.

No one taught me.

Contrary, absolute,

touched by another kind of knowing.

Then as bird,

my feathers were fine as the brush

of wind on your skin,

though I would not touch you.

Before I was crow

I was something I forget.

There were dust, bones, time.

Who dreamt me?

Though my hand sat lightly

on the curve

of the future of you,

I wanted more.

I always wanted more.

I was darkness, too much.

Hand, or feather and wing.

One and the other.

Sometimes they seem

like the same thing

visiting me over and over,

with no way out.

Steve Evans teaches creative writing. He writes poetry, prose and nonfiction, is a literary editor for an international journal, and prose editor for an Australian journal. He has been on organising committees for seven literary festivals, writer-in-residence internationally several times, and on arts funding and literary prize panels. He has published seven poetry collections and edited or co-authored five other books, and also won various prizes. Easy Money (short stories) was released in 2019 and Animal Instincts (poetry) is due out in 2020.

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