Iowa Writes

JAN WEISSMILLER
The Yard’s Reason


The blue ground flowers, Scilla,
Siberian Violet,
had nothing to do with it.
Nor did the sidewalk, the terrace,
the red of the studio door.
—The tick of the clock, the blurred
    view through the screen from in here—
The shape of the woodshed, the trunk
of the oak, the street through the field
seen past the leafless trees,
it wasn’t any of these.
Not the stone steps visible
in the dormant flower bed
or the stillness of the wind wheel.
Not the lock on the studio door.
Not the thought of your excitement
at seeing the wood duck.
Not even the wood duck.
Not the green sheen of moss
on the branch where it perched.

About Iowa Writes

Since 2006, Iowa Writes has featured the work of Iowa-identified writers (whether they have Iowa roots or live here now) and work published by Iowa journals and publishers on The Daily Palette. Iowa Writes features poetry, fiction, or nonfiction twice a week on the Palette.

In November of 2008, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Iowa City, Iowa, the world's third City of Literature, making the community part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

Iowa City has joined Edinburgh, Scotland and Melbourne, Australia as UNESCO Cities of Literature.

Find out more about submitting by contacting iowa-writes@uiowa.edu


JAN WEISSMILLER

Jan Weissmiller received an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1984. She lives in Iowa City with her husband, the painter John Dilg, and has worked for many years at Prairie Lights Bookstore. “The Yard’s Reason” appears in her poetry collection, In Divided Light, and also in the anthology Voices on the Landscape: Contemporary Iowa Poets, both published by Loess Hills Books.

This page was first displayed
on March 09, 2007

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