Newsletter Sign In Search News Books & Culture Fiction & Poetry Humor & Cartoons Magazine Puzzles & Games Video Podcasts Archive Goings On Shop PoemsNovember 8, 2021 Issue Can You Say It By David Baker November 1, 2021 Audio: Read by the author. 1. There was a busyness. Yes, in the apple tree. The first light. You could say it was a busyness— like a hive of movements, indistinct as haze caught up in strings of light. Low sunlight, among webs. And along the strands those slender brown fingerlings, the leaves, hovered, just there, in the breeze. 2. What I meant to say is the morning was heavy. Was it our sorrow. The tree was at the window. Before we could see the webs, the dew, the thousand little apples, we saw the end of it only. The night, yes— the end of it. There is always something else to say. No, I mean the first light. There’s far too much to say. 3. Low sunlight. Yes, in the apple tree, coming up. Every day is the anniversary of a terror. But there you are. A sorrow. And something caught there dazzling in the haze, just the same. Yes. And of this moment closer to you than I can say. There was busyness in the apple tree. 4. First I thought it just a slim leaf, hanging to the screen. On the door. The night was settled. Darkness inside, darkness out. Then the wings half-closed like hands, or a clasp. I mean, of a jewel. Dust of a moth, half a palm wide, and the crickets a busy tide at the seashore, when this was a sea. 5. In the morning, the moth was gone. Or was it silence. Every day the image at the window—us, each other, wings on the door. Yes, can you say it now. Before the webs we saw first light, a breath of haze— then leaves, floating there. In the window, yes. We saw ourselves. Then we saw ourselves with shadows. Published in the print edition of the November 8, 2021, issue. David Baker teaches at Denison University. He will publish a new poetry collection, “Whale Fall,” in July. This Week’s Issue Never miss a big New Yorker story again. Sign up for This Week’s Issue and get an e-mail every week with the stories you have to read. Enter your e-mail address Sign up By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Sections NewsBooks & CultureFiction & PoetryHumor & CartoonsMagazineCrosswordVideoPodcastsArchiveGoings On More Customer CareShop The New YorkerBuy Covers and CartoonsCondé Nast StoreDigital AccessNewslettersJigsaw PuzzleRSSSite Map AboutCareersContactF.A.Q.Media KitPressAccessibility HelpCondé Nast Spotlight © 2021 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices Manage Preferences We Care About Your Privacy We and our partners store and/or access information on a device, such as unique IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data. We and our partners process data to provide: Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. List of Partners (vendors) I Accept Show Purposes