In spring the yellow swastikas

Sailed across the meadow.

Now the autumn breeze

Bruises me; I wait:

Soon your tiny hands will rip down

The yellow flying leaves.

Rachel Loden’s book Dick of the Dead (Ahsahta Press) was shortlisted for the PEN USA Literary Award for Poetry and the California Book Award and her first full-length collection, Hotel Imperium (University of Georgia Press) won the Contemporary Poetry Series competition.