poetry by alison hicks

Nightscape

There were dogs and stars
in the silence—strange thing: 
dogs running, stretching front legs,
claws eating up earth, stars 
popping into the clear night
like Matisse’s cutouts.
Silhouettes of dogs in black.
I followed them over frozen ground.

It seemed important to convey, 
stars and the dogs running,
only I didn’t have the words,  
they came afterwards.
In the moment, I had the paper,
movement of legs, and light 
from the stars that was still in the process 
of reaching me.

Alison Hicks was awarded the 2021 Birdy Prize from Meadowlark Press for Knowing Is a Branching Trail. Previous collections are You Who Took the Boat Out and Kiss, a chapbook Falling Dreams, and a novella Love: A Story of Images. Her work has appeared in Eclipse, Gargoyle, Permafrost, and Poet Lore. She was named a finalist for the 2021 Beullah Rose prize from Smartish Pace, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Green Hills Literary Lantern. She is founder of Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio, which offers community-based writing workshops.