- Table of ContentsNed BalboRita Signorelli-PappasMary MakofskeJared CarterDeborah BogenShari WagnerWilliam PageLisa BarnettDavid B. AxelrodRobin TungJohn A. NievesBethany Schultz HurstMarci Rae JohnsonDoug RamspeckStephen LackayeJoannie StangelandWilliam FordSandy LonghornAllan PetersonSarah BussePhilip BelcherCarol V. DavisBrian SimoneauJoanne M. ClarksonSheryl LunaMichael BazzettJeanine StevensGreg KeelerRebecca FoustLiz RobbinsEdward NudelmanAngela Alaimo O'DonnellRicardo Pau-LlosaKarina BorowiczRon HouchinSusan DonnellyVPR Home
- William Page: "Swifts"
The heavens closed their shop of sun,
and on the west horizon darkness comes in
riding the wings of evening.
Over an ocean a thousand miles away
the swifts are rowing their wings
below clouds still holding
a glimmer of gold while the moon
is biding its time. How amazing
that these small creatures with feathers
no thicker than the falling leaf
from a maple tree can carry them
so rapidly their name is Swift.
It’s true these birds can fly
a thousand miles in only the time
Earth turns once on its axis.
Would that I could accomplish something
so remarkable in a lifetime of rushing.
William Page's third volume of poems, Bodies Not Our Own (Memphis State University Press, 1986), was awarded a Walter R. Smith Distinguished Book Award. Another collection, William Page’s Greatest Hits: 1970-2000, is available from Pudding House Publications. His poems have also appeared widely in literary journals, including North American Review, Southern Review, Southwest Review, Rattle, Ploughshares, Literary Review, American Literary Review, Mississippi Review, Wisconsin Review, Kansas Quarterly, Midwest Quarterly, Sewanee Review, Southern Poetry Review, Pedestal Magazine, and in a number of print or online anthologies.