Pardon

Pardon




Before morning’s white-wash,

a garden spider abandons

silver knots.  He sways –

hemlock to peach.

Yellow belly slides web-heart,

waits out serrated wind.



I toss warm toast

to mulling song birds. Set aside

infringements from stale times.

Crusts picked over, the flock

explodes off damp leaves.

A single excited wing.



Sam Barbee




Sam Barbee’s poems have appeared Poetry South, The NC Literary Review, Crucible, Asheville Poetry Review, The Southern Poetry Anthology VII: North Carolina.   His second poetry collection, That Rain We Needed (2016, Press 53), was a nominee for the Roanoke-Chowan Award as one of North Carolina’s best poetry collections of 2016.