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Michael Todd Steffen is the director of the Hastings Room Reading Series in Cambridge, MA. His latest book of poetry is Partner, Orchard and Day Moon that was published by Cervena Barva Press. His poems and articles have been published in many literary reviews in the United States and abroad. He has spent ten years living and teaching in France and England, an experience that has enriched his creativity. He was awarded the Somerville News Writers’ Festival Poetry prize.

Familiarity

Michael Todd Steffen

The lady in the square

breakfasting alone

with nobody around her

as we walked by

(or was she soliciting us obliquely?)

and me with just a look

not saying anything

to you who earlier that morning

had complained

I acted as though you were not there…

It is the same now

with the geese on the river walk

those big birds

that might be a wonder

around everyday sparrows

if the geese themselves

had not somehow become so everyday,

so every hour, so every few minutes

if you just stand there feeding them

from the palm of your hand.

— Michael Todd Steffen

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