
VERITY
the madrigal, volume iv
Of Course
by kerry trautman
Of course I would never
harm the robin who for
five days has pecked
and fluttered its fur-like breast
against the sliding glass door, despite
his keeping me up most of the night,
and when I do drift off
I dream of roofers
re-shingling above my head.
Of course I loved
my father, and of course he loved me.
Of course regrets do not keep
me up most of the night,
dreaming of how he might
have instead grown into a grey old
man like others have. Of course we know
that if we
hurt something we
will regret it,
so of course we choose not to, but
sometimes do anyway,
and when we
dream at night, of course
we have no control over who’s there.
Kerry Trautman lives in Ohio, USA. Her work has appeared in various anthologies and journals, including Slippery Elm, Free State Review, Paper & Ink, The Fourth River, Channel Magazine, Midwestern Gothic, and Gasconade Review. Kerry's poetry books are Things That Come in Boxes (King Craft Press 2012,) To Have Hoped (Finishing Line Press 2015,) Artifacts (NightBallet Press 2017,) and To be Nonchalantly Alive (Kelsay Books 2020.)