Tom Daley
November Shadow
November shadow, abide
in the tumult, in the multitude.
Let me always speak
in complete sentences
and may your long, black,
and sharpened edges keep my cool
from drying dull.
May you stretch to such a shape
that even summer will seem
a thing short and curt.
May you follow my calves
and corduroys
out the path to the place
where the tumors settle.
And may you play
your translucent black
like a splendid pack
of moles or crows.
Tom Daley is the author of House You Cannot Reach—Poems in the Voice of My Mother and Other Poems (FutureCycle Press, 2015). Recipient of the Dana Award in Poetry, his poetry has appeared in Harvard Review, Massachusetts Review, Fence, Denver Quarterly, Crazyhorse, Witness, and elsewhere. He leads writing workshops in the Boston area and online for poets and writers working in creative prose.