The leaves are no longer talking.
The pines are fighting with swords,
the oaks are fighting with fists.
The black birds are coming, black as ravens,
they will smother the sun from our sight.
Some say it is a heard of sheep,
some say it is goats for the slaughter,
but it is not sheep, nor goats.
It is the standing army coming, steady
as the black hand of the sea.
Song of the Three Swallows
HOLLY KARAPETKOVA is Poet Laureate Emerita of Arlington, Virginia, and recipient of a 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship for her work with young poets. Her third book of poems, Dear Empire won of the 2025 William Meredith Prize and the Barry Spacks Poetry Prize and is just out from Gunpowder Press.
Website: www.karapetkova.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holly.karapetkova/