It disappeared
it reappeared
as chimney smoke
burning through carcasses
of swallows
and that it portrayed no will
was why I followed that smoke
with this pair of eyes

It was that it didn’t need
or require
my belief
that I leant upon it
as a tired worker
upon a gate

From Blood Lyrics (Graywolf Press, 2014).  “The Soul” first appeared in Poetry Magazine.  Used by permission of the poet and Graywolf Press. 
Copyright © 2012 by Katie Ford.