<div class="line">Driving by</div>
<div class="line">our old home</div>
<div class="line">on Mayfair,</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">the cairn was gone</div>
<div class="line">the tire swing</div>
<div class="line">still floating there.</div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/VidelockGoes.mp3"></audio></figure>

Reading Exodus

All the Fixings

The Way It Goes

<p><a href="https://www.rattle.com/ekphrasis/EC24Jun.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter" style="border: 0px solid black;" title="Terry's Keys by Kim Beckham" src="https://www.rattle.com/ekphrasis/EC24Jun.jpg" alt="Terry's Keys by Kim Beckham, photograph of keys hanging on a fence at a beach" /></a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Image: &#8220;Terry&#8217;s Keys&#8221; by <a href="https://www.wachusettphotos.com/">Kim Beckham</a>. &#8220;What You Thought You Lost&#8221; was written by <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/wendy-videlock">Wendy Videlock</a> for <em>Rattle’</em>s Ekphrastic Challenge, June 2024, and selected as the Editor&#8217;s Choice.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<div class="line">What you thought you lost along the way</div>
<div class="line">hangs in the air like a prayer</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">May you find your way home</div>
<div class="line">may the doors swing open wide</div>
<div class="line">            from the out and the in</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">              side</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">under a wide open sky</div>
<div class="line">May you lose</div>
<div class="line">            may you find,</div>
<div class="line">may you know</div>
<div class="line">              in the core</div>
<div class="line">of your weathered soul your old</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">and your new sign</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">May every stranger on the path</div>
<div class="line">become the one who</div>
<div class="line">                        stopped</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">to hang something you thought</div>
<div class="line">you lost in the air</div>
<div class="line">              by a thread like an ancient</div>
<div class="line">pagan prayer</div>
<div class="line">            like some kind of</div>
<div class="line">elder</div>
<div class="line">          warm-eyed</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">guardian was standing there.</div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/VidelockLost.mp3"></audio></figure>

Ghazal: Like a Prayer

Ekphrastic Challenge

Political Action

What You Thought You Lost

<div class="line">Gratitude, too.</div>
<div class="line">The only flippin&#8217; truth</div>
<div class="line">is everything moves</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">says the moon, hovering</div>
<div class="line">over every mantra,</div>
<div class="line">every sparrow,</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">every dollar, every</div>
<div class="line">Congo, every nation,</div>
<div class="line">every little good intention.</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">The more difficult the world</div>
<div class="line">the greater the imperative</div>
<div class="line">toward blame,</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">toward distraction,</div>
<div class="line">toward impossible heights</div>
<div class="line">and humble strings</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">of twinkle lights.</div>
<div class="line">My love, let us vow</div>
<div class="line">that through the winter</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">we shall pause by the river</div>
<div class="line">where below the frozen surface</div>
<div class="line">surely tiny fish are feeding.</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">Let us make a practice</div>
<div class="line">of coming to bear</div>
<div class="line">the weather,</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">of gathering by the fire,</div>
<div class="line">of reading to one another</div>
<div class="line">as the sparrow wears</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">her feather, as the moon</div>
<div class="line">resolves to move,</div>
<div class="line">as the body knows</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">surrender, as the leaves</div>
<div class="line">believe September,</div>
<div class="line">as rhyme succumbs</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">to reason, as the pause</div>
<div class="line">to remember</div>
<div class="line">descends upon the season.</div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/VidelockTruth.mp3"></audio></figure>

Living the Chemical Life

Poets Respond

Jeopardy

The Truth Is a Nimble Little Creature

<div class="line">You’ve been the wolf, you’ve been the bear,</div>
<div class="line">you were the grass when I was air,</div>
<div class="line">the hush of the lake, eyes and lips,</div>
<div class="line">a shyness at my fingertips,</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">a motion that knew when to slow,</div>
<div class="line">the forest where I always go;</div>
<div></div>
<div class="line">and now you are the windowsill</div>
<div class="line">I rest my elbows on until</div>
<div class="line">the night grows dark and I can’t see</div>
<div class="line">these silhouettes of you and me.</div>


Report from a Distance

We Exist Inside Each Other

Of You

<div class="line">It makes sense in every sense</div>
<div class="line">of the word</div>
<div class="line">to turn the lights oﬀ</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">for the song bird,</div>
<div class="line">that she may ﬁnd her way.</div>
<div class="line">True, too, for the waterfowl,</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">the barn owl, the cactus wren—</div>
<div class="line">even the mouse prefers</div>
<div class="line">a darkened house</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">in which to nibble her grains.</div>
<div class="line">It’s even true</div>
<div class="line">the ﬁddler’s tune</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">will only begin to dance</div>
<div class="line">when under a subtle</div>
<div class="line">crescent moon.</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><em>If not for the dark, no spark, </em></div>
<div class="line">says the sparrow and</div>
<div class="line">the meadowlark—</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><em>beware the ones </em></div>
<div class="line">who fear the dark, who refuse</div>
<div class="line">to look a shadow in the eye,</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">who have no interest</div>
<div class="line">in the sky unless it’s rendered</div>
<div class="line">itself so blue</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">it won’t reveal</div>
<div class="line">the distance between it</div>
<div class="line">and you. It isn’t the moral</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">but the heart of the story:</div>
<div class="line">the raven’s claw, the falcon’s beak</div>
<div class="line">the eagle’s scree,</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">the rotting little memento mori.</div>
<div class="line">There is no wing,</div>
<div class="line">no blissful ﬂight,</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">no ﬁnding your way,</div>
<div class="line">no resting gently in the nest</div>
<div class="line">and nuzzling your little egg</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">without the calling</div>
<div class="line">of the rest: the grief song,</div>
<div class="line">the suddenly wan,</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">the fallen star, the weight of loss,</div>
<div class="line">the lights that flicker,</div>
<div class="line">and turn off.</div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/VidelockBirds.mp3"></audio></figure>

Little Richard

Love’s Executioner

Lights Turn Off in May at the Gateway Arch to Assist Migratory Birds

<div class="line">I have been counting my regrets.</div>
<div class="line">Bacon, Facebook, cigarettes.</div>
<div class="line">Anger. Bluster. Laziness.</div>
<div class="line">Fearfulness, indifference,</div>
<div class="line">lousy lovers, stupid bets—</div>
<div class="line">things that should not be confessed.</div>
<div class="line">I’m still not dead. It should be said</div>
<div class="line">I haven’t finished counting yet.</div>


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March 13, 2017I Have Been Counting My RegretsWendy Videlock

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March 13, 2017I Have Been Counting My RegretsWendy Videlock

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