Winter Doves
Perched on a long limb,
these eight plump Buddhas
know the way
to welcome morning—
no calls, no scramble
for seeds, not one
preens. Sunlight
honeys the bare branches
of the cottonwood.
We perch, the eight
seem to say, our
faces to the light.
Blue sky billows, grace
rises through patient
roots, this ample day
gathers in our chests.
F.W. “Skip” Renker’s poems have appeared in Awakenings Review, Leaping Clear, Presence, and many other publications, as well as the Atlanta Review and Passages Northanthologies. His books are Sifting the Visible (Mayapple Press), Bearing the Cast (Saint Julian Press), and A Patient Hunger (Atmosphere Press). Skip’s a graduate of Notre Dame and Duke, and has an MFA from Seattle Pacific University.
Amethyst Review 