By Jeff Miles
Art: “Tree and Creek” by Hannah Hatley

I am learning to draw the eye,
curvature of the earth,
liquid space within.

I am learning to draw each lash,
the eyelid’s fold and shutter,
the red darkness of a closed room.

I am learning to draw the iris,
breathing out at twilight,
breathing in the gathering dawn.

I am learning to draw the pupil,
aperture of night and day, well
into which the penny drops.

I am learning to draw the bones
of the socket, cup and saucer,
window, wall, orbit of the moon.

I am learning to draw the shadow,
the lift, the arc, the blink—the open door,
the secret that tells itself in tears

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Jeff Miles lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. His poems have appeared in Quarterly West, Southern Poetry Review, International Poetry Review, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and other magazines.