Yellowjackets by Yusef Komunyakaa

by Yusef Komunyakaa

Yellowjackets

When the plowblade struck

An old stump hiding under

The soil like a beggar’s

Rotten tooth, they swarmed up

& Mister Jackson left the plow

Wedged like a whaler’s harpoon.

The horse was midnight

Against dusk, tethered to somebody’s

Pocketwatch.  He shivered, but not

The way women shook their heads

Before mirrors at the five

& dime—a deeper connection

To the low field’s evening star.

He stood there, in tracechains,

Lathered in froth, just

Stopped by a great, goofy

Calmness.  He whinnied

Once, & then the whole

Beautiful, blue-black sky

Fell on his back.

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from “Pleasure Dome: New & Collected Poems, 1975-1999,” Wesleyan Univ. Press, 2001

copyright 2001 by Yusef Komunyakaa

For more about Yusef Komunyakaa and his poetry, see The Poetry Foundation website. To purchase Pleassure Dome: New & Collected Poems go to Bookshop.org.