The Farmer and the Fox
He is a reason to leave the warmth of the house at night,
the family sighing in its sleep.
Chase him down to the trees
and stop to watch him not run away.
Let him crawl under the porch in a storm,
only to find him drowned in the flooded fields come morning.
Elizabeth O’Connell-Thompson’s work has been featured in RHINO, Icarus, and Banshee, among others. She runs the Wasted Pages: Rut Bust workshop for the Chicago Publishers Resources Center. EOTwrites.com
Also appearing in The Wax Paper is O'Connell's poem, Ceasefire.