HOME OF THE BRAVE
16

Self Assessment

by Brian Foley

already we need
hay to fill
our effigies

 

the silence of
the heart
undermines

 

the body
which moves
in habit

 

put something
in it and leave

 

it to leaven
it will rise like

 

the chimney
that stands

 

after the house

Brian Foley is the author of a few chapbooks including TOTEM, which is forthcoming from Fact-Simile Editions. Recent poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Denver Quarterly, Boston Review, Sink Review, Real Poetik, Action Yes, Leveler, and elsewhere. He co-edits Saltgrass Journal & is poetry editor of Brave Men Press. He lives in Northampton, MA.