Even the eagle is deep
into dailyness

acts as if safe, & is silly
during its courtship rituals

spends days inspecting
impregnable building sites
before choosing one
with a view of fat meadows,
water, & the right neighbors

clucks at stubborn children
to hurry them up, models
high tricks of survival
for their benefit

wakes in the night
when the wind shifts hard north,
& tunes in hastily
to the weather reports.

Marie Ponsot recently received the Aiken Taylor Award in Modern American Poetry, given annually by Sewanee Review. In 2013, she was awarded the Ruth Lilly Prize for lifetime achievement by the Poetry Foundation. Her Collected Poems was published in August by Knopf.

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