James Arthur was born in Connecticut and raised in Canada. His debut poetry collection is entitled Charms against Lightning (Copper Canyon Press, 2012). Arthur has taught composition at Northwest Missouri State University and is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins. He lives in the Baltimore area with his wife, the fiction writer Shannon Robinson.

Interpretation of a Painted Landscape

by James Arthur

This little world is a quiet one. Cattle graze on a rock
jutting out above the bay, while sailboats,
brown and gray, gray and brown, drift above the harbor
like weather-beaten swans. One cow, standing at an angle
to the other members of the herd,

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