Clay Swans

John Rutherford

April 2, 2023

Long necks, bent to the breast,

resting while waiting for the cracks

to form signs of life, a cygnet hatching

yolk to grey-brown down

on a muddy riverbank.

The reeds piled, woven

with inexplicable deftness,

something ancient and new,

to be washed away in the summer rains

and rebuilt next season.

How far have they flown?

Separate all year, til the season

of love, returning to the same river,

to build the nest again,

their tenancy resumed.

Every year, an anniversary birth,

this time marred, a bruise

blue-speckled on the crown,

evidence, witness of an assault,

waiting for the cracks to form.

John Rutherford is a poet writing in Beaumont, Texas. Since 2018, he has been an employee in the Department of English at Lamar University.

“Waiting Posture” by James C. Watkins in an exhibition called Reflections Made of Memories at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas.