HILARY KING

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The Egret by the Exit 

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​An egret stands by the exit

as if the trash-speckled ditch

were poetry.

Who’s to say it's not?

Is the egret, a tulip of white

on long dark stems,

oblivious to the river

of cars and eighteen wheelers?

Or is it aware of danger

as we are of the storms

inside each other,

gathering cloud, then

sudden, drenching violence

unique to each species.

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Originally from the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, Hilary King is a poet now living in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, TAB, Salamander, Fourth River, and other publications. Her book Stitched on Me was published by Riot in Your Throat Press in 2024. She loves hiking, travel, and ribbon.

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