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Quiet Night

By |Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2003, at 11:14 AM

(Continued from Page 1)

nighthawks and goatsuckers, the sleepy respirations of the forest,

        and the owl that asks first for a name,

then leaves its spar

        and spreads a silence

so vast and immobile

        you can hear whole migrations inside it,

the swoons, the plummets, the bland ascensions

      of souls.

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Robert Wrigley's books include Earthly Meditations: New & Selected Poems, Lives of the Animals, Reign of Snakes, and the forthcoming Beautiful Country. He teaches in the graduate writing program at the University of Idaho. 

Clickhere to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.To submit poetry to Slate, send up to five poems and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Robert Pinsky, Slate Magazine, Boston University, 236 Bay State Road, Boston, MA, 02215.