East Florida

1 Minute Read Time

Photo by Jacksonville Beach Moms on Unsplash

Beneath the hazed moon, this 
    hazed absence of stars,
how the hearts of the frogs 
    are breaking!
How they stretch and bloat 
    the fine elastic
of their chests, and how 
    their bloated hearts
are so greatly breaking!
    This night of camp-tent 
swelter belongs to the frogs;
    the distant car rattling 
slowly home and the nameless,
    distant dog know
nothing of barrenness, the lone 
    washer chuffing through
the open door of the Laundromat 
    cannot muster an equal
grief, so let us pause then to give 
    praise for the broad nostrils
and the glottises of frogs.
    Let us pause for the great 
and cupidinous faith that doles
    and gravels in the swell of
their thousand throats, in the gellant 
    swell of a thousand
bulged and gibbous jowls. 
    Beneath the streetlamps,
the damp porches din with 
    a stridulous passion;
the car lots and darkened 
    surf stands echo
with an unbroken desolation 
    and hope, so let
the vacant causeway crowd 
    with wheeze and jug
and whoop, the slim alleys 
    hoarsen and gruff.
Let us give loud and stentorian 
    praise for the gullets
of frogs, that their maws 
    may widen, their dry
lips bubble and their bellies 
    spread. That they may throb
and chirrup and croak unendingly, 
    unendingly, of strange
and taintless beauty, 
    make of our portion
proper melody.

Hailey Leithauser

was born in Baltimore and raised in Maryland and Central Florida. Leithauser has worked as a salad chef, real estate office manager, gourmet food salesperson, freelance copy editor, phone surveyor, bookstore clerk, fact checker, and, most recently, senior reference librarian at the Department of Energy in Washington, DC. Returning to writing after a break of several decades, her work has appeared widely, in publications such as Poetry magazine, Agni Online, Crazyhorse, the Gettysburg Review, The Iowa Review, Meridian, Pleiades, and Best American Poetry.

Leithauser is the author of the poetry collections Saint Worm (Able Muse Press, 2019) and Swoop (Graywolf Press, 2013), winner of the Poetry Foundation’s Emily Dickinson First Book Award. She is the recipient of the Discovery/The Nation Prize, and an Individual Artist’s Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she is a coordinator for the Café Muse reading series.

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