To the Saguaro Cactus Tree in the Desert Rain

James Wright

I had no idea the elf owl

Crept into you in the secret

Of night.

I have torn myself out of many bitter places

In America, that seemed

Tall and green-rooted in mid-noon.

I wish I were the spare shadow

Of the roadrunner, I wish I were

The honest lover of the diamondback

And the tear the tarantula weeps.

I had no idea you were so tall

And blond in moonlight.

I got thirsty in the factories,

And I hated the brutal dry suns there,

So I quit.

You were the shadow

Of a hallway

In me.

I have never gone through that door,

But the elf owl's face

Is inside me.

Saguaro,

You are not one of the gods.

Your green arms lower and gather me.

I am an elf owl's shadow, a secret

Member of your family.

A Blessing by James Wright
Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota

Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio by James Wright
In the Shreve High football stadium,

Living by the Red River by James Wright

Northern Pike by James Wright
All right. Try this,

On the Skeleton of a Hound by James Wright
Nightfall, that saw the morning-glories float

The Secret of Light by James Wright
I am sitting contented and alone in a little park near the Palazzo Scaligere...