Little Leaf Literary Journal

by Ed Ruzicka

Start with a D minor chord in December branches
          before light can find any sparrows. Let an owl
          blow dawn’s voice out its crooked beak
          as it drops from a tree, strikes an arc across stars. 
Coyotes’ nails click against asphalt. Done with the night
          coyotes trot back to a den. A garbage truck drums
          up the street. Every morning a garbage truck
          drums up the street. Smells like that linger and cling.
A lot has been hauled away. The beloved dead
          enter with D minor, come like junkies
          like thieves, like coyotes to take whatever they can.
          More lays erased under snow and ice. All these losses
Have left the air jewel clear. Every night I go away from the poem.
The next morning, like a winter sky, it is more empty and more full.

Ed Ruzicka’s third book of poems, Squalls, was released in March 2024. Ed’s poems have appeared in Atlanta Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, Rattle, Canary, and many other literary publications. Ed, who is also the president of the Poetry Society of Louisiana, lives with his wife, Renee, in Baton Rouge.