Nighthawks

     poem by J.B. Mulligan
     art: Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” 1942. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago®. Chicago, Illinois.

Drab sartorial plumage
(except for a flash of red,
bright as if for mating)
under a bowl of light.

 

Outside, on the wall
across the street,
what might or might not
be morning breaks.

J.B. Mulligan has had poems and stories published in dozens of magazines, including, recently, Bonfire, Iota, Animus, Tattoo Highway, and Poetry Renewal. He has written two chapbooks: The Stations of the Cross and This Way to the Egress, and his poetry appeared in the anthology Inside Out: A Gathering of Poets.

© 2009 J.B. Mulligan