Mystery of the Noise the Air Makes When Milled

by Beth Bachmann

It’s enough to force you over the edge
                               and into the water.
This is one consequence of mining wind
                               to generate light:

killings, the rate of which rises in towns
                               where the white blades
turn, driven by heat. Still, on a calm day,
                               something is always

moving, suggesting a harness.

Beth Bachmann’s poems have recently appeared in American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, and Best New Poets 2005. She teaches creative writing at Vanderbilt University and is the book review editor for The Southern Review. (8/2006)