Don't Look Back

Don't Look Back
by Kay Ryan


This is not
a problem
for the neckless.
Fish cannot
recklessly
swivel their heads
to check
on their fry;
no one expects
this. They are
torpedoes of 
disinterest,
compact capsules
that rely 
on the odds
for survival,

unfollowed by
the exact and modest
number or goslings
the S-necked
goose is—
who if she
looks back
acknowledges losses
and if she does not
also loses.


"Don't Look Back" by Kay Ryan, from Say Uncle. © Grove Press, 2000. 


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