Colleen O'Brien


A reel is a dance,
a spool,
and a fall fast and straight
at the wall.

To reel and to fall make a cross
like to rise and to sail.
To bow makes a compass
to draw on the floor.

A draw is a truce.
The fall ends the year.
A headstone’s a tooth
in the mouth of the earth.

Truth is a word
in the mouth
and a spool in the maze
in the myth.

Colleen O’Brien’s short stories and poems have appeared or are forthcoming in North American Review, Sonora Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, CutBank, and elsewhere. She lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with her husband, Brandon Krieg.