Kathryn Knight Sonntag

Lying in a Sleeping Bag at the Bridger Bay Campground on Antelope Island

Companion poem to “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota”
by James Wright

Above, the nightspring purpling—a toss
of stars. Below, bison sway in indigo
grass. Down the trail, next to the shore,
maroon boughs suspend orbs—
at each still heart: eight tigered legs.
Behind me, lit from within, she—
white stone—
ruminates over eastern peaks.
I rise to my shadows, her fullness
here and here and on, lean
forward as algae consume
oxygen and die.
I have seen past the thought of me.

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Kathryn Knight Sonntag is the author of the poetry collection The Tree at the Center (BCC Press, 2019). She has recent and forthcoming poems in Colorado Review, Psaltery & Lyre, Ethel, Rock & Sling, The Inflectionist Review and the anthology Blossom as the Cliffrose (Torrey House Press, 2021). She lives in Salt Lake City. kathrynknightsonntag.com