Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Poetry
A thread of birds pulled
from the shorn field becomes
a scarf knit by the wind,
intertwining the branches, flowing
astride the bare necks of trees
then expands
to a needlepoint shawl
thrown wild within the October air
covering the grey and brown
shoulders of low hills
against the coming cold
then explodes,
full as a sheer cloth,
dull autumn light peeking
through the feathered pattern
as it is billowed to lay
momentarily straight
on the harvest table.
Originally from a mill town on the banks of Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, John Peter Beck is a recently retired professor in the labor education program at Michigan State University where he still co-directs a program that focuses on labor history and the culture of the workplace, Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives. His poetry has been published in a number of journals including The Seattle Review, Another Chicago Magazine, The Louisville Review and Passages North among others.