Michelle Turner

Dear Sounds

Mornings, now,
the black-capped
chickadee is back and louder
than the train. Creature
of old love, old pacts, the old
future ringing—the first bird
you taught me to hear. 
I admit, every black-capped
chickadee is, to me,
the one from Meldrum Street.
Eight apartments, one divorce
down—It follows me. 
Such are the dear sounds.
The same classical runs
over and over on your guitar.
The way you said my name
when answering the phone
—every time, all those years—
my call somehow a surprise. 

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Michelle Turner’s poetry has appeared in Spoon River Poetry Review, Southern Humanities Review, Sixth Finch, The Greensboro Review, Harpur Palate and other publications. She holds an MFA from the University of Michigan and currently lives in Tucson, Arizona. Read more at michellemturner.com.