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Essays by Elizabeth Willis
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To a Steam Roller
by Marianne Moore
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The Steam Engine  
by Elizabeth Willis

I came back to the meadow an unsuspecting hart, trying to wake up from a long night of walking. I was looking for a subtext, a heavy horsy bee doing battle with its inclination. What’s your angle? A little evanescent on the rim, it’s only a willow, beaked and shining, a toothy margin holding up banks. Have we overstayed our party in the heavenly city or are we spilling through its gates trying not to get trampled? On the berm I filled a basket with crashing birds. In the dream you pointed sideways with your thumb where the cars were flying.




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Elizabeth Willis, "The Steam Engine," from Meteoric Flowers, © 2006 by Elizabeth Willis. Used by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
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