He was patient as a dead bird.
He perched on the ledge of bottom
and rocked.  He was the missed flight.
He was silence calmed down.
He loved most to watch the moon
climb the ladder of the sky.  Many
muttered: imbecile.  Yet—whenever
he passed by, the trees donned tuxedos
and stood up straight.

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Robert Nazarene founded the critically acclaimed MARGIE Review and IntuiT House Poetry Series which published the winning volume for the National Book Critics Circle award in poetry for 2006. He is the author of two full-length collections of poems: CHURCH (2006) and Empire de la Mort. His poetry has appeared in AGNI, Ploughshares, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Plume, Iowa Review, Salmagundi and elsewhere. He is founder and editor-in-chief of the online poetry review, theamericanjournalofpoetry.com.