Kelli Russell Agodon

Kelli Russell Agodon (1969- ) is the author of four collection of poems, including the award-winning Dialogues with Rising Tides, which was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2021. She is the cofounder of Two Sylvias Press. She lives in Washington State.

Night thinks it’s crying again

Night thinks it’s crying again and I

keep listening to a song about autumn where

an apple tastes like longing and every leaf 

in the maple tree tries to explain loss

through a series of colors—hectic orange,

indifferent red, a kind of gold that speaks

directly to God or moonbeams and in the dark

as I drive down wet roadways watching for deer

the only things I can see clearly

are the yellow leaves christening

my windshield and I think how we are taught

not to love too many, too much, the night,

the darkness, and I believe I am crying but it is

only rain.

— Kelli Russell Agodon