Where do poems come from? It’s an endless mystery to me, although with these two I can at least point to specific events.

Both poems were inspired by surprising, unplanned interactions with animals. In one, an owl who’d had her tree cut down hissed at me. In the other, a renegade, runaway goat showed up outside my home in Maine.

Noble Gas Quarterly, by the way, is a legit venture — not to be confused with my “ignoble gas” satire, which is totally illegit.

Art by Kmye Chan, from the cover of Issue 203.4
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