Maureen Mulhern: “6:00 a.m.”

6:00 a.m.

Clouds the color of seagulls

Swim through grey waters

As I feed the birds,

The indoor cats

And outdoor strays

Who scratch

At my pajamad legs.

I’ve already swept

Mouse legs and lower torso

Into dust pan

(the head is another story).

As I walk away

A cavalcade of wild turkeys

Scrambles

Across the broken rock wall,

The teenage son

Stares at his reflection

In the kitchen window

And touches his hair,

His thoughts far from home.

Maureen Mulhern received the Ruth Lake Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America as well as a writing fellowship from Yaddo. Her poems have appeared in Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, Drunken Boat, Hunger Mountain, Indiana Review, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, and other literary journals. Her first book of poetry, Parallax, was published by Wesleyan University Press.

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