Nathan Hoks
Summer 2025 | Poetry
Ode on Turtle Xings
When the rain purrs the rooftop
And blurs the windshield
I have sentimental oscillations
For the yellow-green turtle
Crossing the country highway.
Its shell becomes a mandala
And the quicksand of the image
Swallows my lousy verbs.
The child beside me talks to a tree
Because the knobs make a face.
It smiles, or smirks, gazing
Forever at the garage. The turtle
Takes its time under the fog
That thickens and uncoils
Before climbing the church tower
In a straight line—a contrail,
A line of flight.
The wish to evaporate.
The turtle that never dies.
Nathan Hoks is the author of Reveilles (Salt), The Narrow Circle (Penguin), and Nests in Air (Black Ocean). His fourth book of poems, Moony Days of Being, is forthcoming from Black Ocean in 2026. He has also published translations of poetry by Vicente Huidobro, Christian Dotremont, Henri Michaux, and Tristan Tzara. He teaches poetry at the University of Chicago and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He lives in Chicago with his family.