Coo
by Hailey Leithauser

A sighing we do,
in its lingering

rising and dying
of caught breath, a slow,

tongueless vibrato
not yet reaching song,

still a beginning,
a sulk burning through,

languored, lamenting
not yet to pursue,

its ruffling wing
enchanting sorrow:

longing and longing,
subdue and subdue.

HAILEY LEITHAUSER’s work has most recently appeared, or is forthcoming, in Agni Online, The Greensboro Review, Pleiades, The Seneca Review and West Branch. She is assistant editor of The National Poetry Review.

READ MORE POETRY by HAILEY LEITHAUSER in
Quarterly West, Issue #63, Fall/Winter 2006/2007