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StonesMike White
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Stones

Mike White


The most torn angel

came into town and

we were dazzled

and a little afraid


His one shredded wing he held

to his side like a secret

and for all our asking

he would not speak of God


An angel fully broken

so that when we finally

led him up the road

(gathering stones as we did)


He trusted us

like a serious child

and asked again for nothing

but water and homecoming



“Stones,” is an older poem from How to Make a Bird with Two Hands (The Word Works, 2012) that combines a sense of revelatory change with breakage.

MIKE WHITE is the author of How to Make a Bird with Two Hands (Word Works, 2012) and Addendum to a Miracle (Waywiser, 2017), winner of the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize.

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