The Poem: Harvest by Thomas Mitchell

The night sky opens its starry picture book: an archer,
a bear, a winged horse. And a thousand miles east, in North Platte,
I know you see them too. The house is empty, only the coffee rings
from yesterday’s breakfast, lingering on the kitchen table.
It helps to remember we live in a lush garden,
no reason to act like wrens, arguing over sunflower seeds,
when the yard is full of thimbleberries, the wind gently blowing millet
to who knows where, while the summer squash, already waiting by the
sink, glows golden and green, more than we will ever need.

“Harvest” first appeared in Cloudbank magazine, and later Verse Daily. This poem is also included in Thomas Mitchell’s poetry collection, “The Way Summer Ends.”