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This poem is taken from PN Review 199, Volume 37 Number 5, May - June 2011.

Four Poems Gwyneth Lewis
Taxonomy

Dusky junco, dusky junco, jay,
Towhee, testy towhee, testy towhee go
Swallow, swallow, swallow, swift,
Culture, give me cultured kite. Oh no,
Carnivorous shrike, no, not the shrike!
I do, the sparrow, oriole.
Eh, ee, ah, oo oriole.


Field Guide to Dementia

To see you is egret,
No, red kite high
On a thermal,
Holding your hand
Is wagtail, comfort.

I think some cuckoo's laid
Its egg of dark inside my head.

Words have migrated,
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