Quiet Night
Listen to Robert Wrigley reading this poem. The bat's opened thorax blips
—that's its heart
beating, says the child—and its mouth bites at
the air, and the cat
that brought it down sits two steps below
and preens, while the pale cone
shed by the porch light makes and remakes itself
with the shadows of miller, moth, and midge.
Listen, the darkness just under the stars
is threaded with passings:
There Is Nothing Miraculous About a Tornado, Wolf Blitzer
A Huge Discovery About Prime Numbers—and What It Means for the Future of Math
Giving Poor Kids Computers Changes Nothing
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.