Christopher Kuhl’s most recent poem to appear here was “Rain. Hawk. River and Sea.” (October 2019).
Tragedy
By Christopher Kuhl
I’m in Woodstock
outside the Best Western,
smoking in the rain. Along
the luggage drop-off
a river forms by the curb,
waving, rippling,
and emptying into the
parking lot, making a lake
out of everything.
Across the lot,
a short, heavy woman
in sandals, holding a newspaper
over her head, hustles
through the water, trying
to find a dry place.
But it’s too late:
Her freshly painted, turquoise
toenails are ruined—good money
cast upon the waters.