George Witte

WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY

Necks bow in unison,

alone.

At church or phone

in urgent prayer, awaiting

word: when and where

dread happens.

What.

An egret–

rapt, infallible–

spreads wings to shadow

water calm and draw

reluctant minnows near,

the way

lost palmers huddle under trees from storm despite

strike risk, while ruptured light

stabs down. And if such shade

seems grace, though false,

then who knows otherwise

or why?

George Witte is the author of Does She Have a Name? (NYQ Books, 2014), Deniability (Orchises Press, 2009) and The Apparitioners (Three Rail Press, 2005). His fourth collection, An Abundance of Caution, will be published in May 2023 by Unbound Edition Press. His poems have been published widely and anthologized in The Best American Poetry, Old Flame, Rabbit Ears, and The Doll Collection. He was awarded the Frederick Bock Prize for a group of poems published in Poetry, and received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State. He lives with his wife and their two daughters in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Full Profile