Poetry

Was Light,–

was next week with a garden in it, next winter with the glow of the unborn. My back up against the mountain, face to the snowy field,—glassy branches of the apple tree. If there was a mistake somewhere I didn’t know it, I only knew the deodar choked on sky,—despite the rumor of unaltered roots….

Hunters’ Guild

In the owl’s nest the apprentices sit at the workbench of hunger, jostle and plea and reckless silence, and out in the night —the wind rising, nonce of stars— wings shove aside distance (antipodal stint, fragrance of quicklime), a steeple and moody bronze, spiritual ruckus, loose haft of prayer, lawns stitched with mushrooms, desires and…

Dutch Funeral

The sermon made my husband weep, my baby sing. The singing was innocence, wrong and wry, so I was out the church door, boy in arms, the wind a bigger sting than death. I’ve never felt so myself around death than in that churchyard, son on my shoulders. I pronounced the chiseled names for him:…

Dark of the Moon

My secret pleasure is the echo my indifference makes when you call on me—even in praise, even in distress. You refuse to believe your senses; so you ignore clear indications of thoughtful malice. Yet my example instructs: you strike out at one another ceaselessly and with growing violence; doubt blossoms as spring comes on. My…

Blue Umbrella

Deer Isle Kai says, “Here, let me fix that, you don’t know how.” This elegant mechanism, a present from my daughter, topped by its own wind hat, engineered not to turn inside out in Nor’easters or August hurricanes. Ingenious invention of China and Egypt, emblem of rank in remote antiquity, collapsible shade, pampering portable sunscreen…

Sonnet: Notes from X Which Might Turn Out to Be an Elegy, Stemming from the U.S. Mail

A postcard from the X, emblem of death or dollar signs like candlelight in eyes, the crux and crucifix, the map the mark, the ink drop spot, the patch stitched in the crotch that holds your snowmobile suit together, objective of your love, known otherwise as architecture, made of point and arc and light, still…