Today i just want to be an old wooden chair
or the patient barber
whose broom is always pushing piles
of very white hair.
Today my back is a dowsing stick
a hat-rack full of birds
or my grandfather’s things,
all having outlived him.
Today i am the church bells, tired of my voice
and ready for a walk beside a creek,
homesick for a wave from that farmer
and curious about the view from his tractor.
Today i am far from florida, far from rio or miami -
the lingerie catalogue startles me,
like a parakeet in winter
and to steady my hands, i read the obituaries
the horoscopes
an advertisement for used furniture.

Nickolas Butler is the author of the internationally-best selling novels Shotgun Lovesongs and The Hearts of Men. His newest novel, Little Faith, will be released in the spring of 2019.