Adam Clay
—
In Like A...
You were a child
and you were not a child
in the next breath,
each dull star some
kind of sun you
puzzled over. A house
emptied without thought
the mind becomes,
but for what and where
did an object take on
its own life? You float
along its expanse,
know there must be
a better word for how far
it stretches loose.
Eventually the weather
hammers out a word
or two into the window,
nothing stranger
than a sentence
disconnected from
its source, a lion
so absent it
forgets its own hunger.

Adam Clay's latest book is Stranger (Milkweed Editions, 2016). He edits Mississippi Review and teaches at the University of Southern Mississippi.
© Bear Review 2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Site Design + Build
October Associates