Two unpublished poems: "Spring Sequence" is from Song of Myself and Other Poems, which will be published by Codhill Press in the summer of 2011. "Azrael" is from Lyrical Inquiries, a work in progress.
Spring Sequence
Simple scientific explanations
Of Earth’s axis and rotation round Sun
Leave unaccountable complexities
Interwoven between snowmelt and solstice.
*
Late March thawing in progress – areas
Exposed to sun showing brown dormant grass
Shaded areas still covered in white
Snowpack sheets receding some each day.
All turkeys gathering from snow packed woods
For miles round into community
For just this purpose of perpetuating
Themselves through generating progeny.
Largest mature jakes proclaiming readiness
To implant their essences in females
Receptive and longing to nurture poults
Into adulthood into serving this need
To keep turkey’s being ongoing in
This complex of abundant life on Earth
*
Very first day ground is thawed enough for
Worms to be captured, robins appear in
Numbers hopping, listening, pecking up
Raptor screech announcing first appearance
Of northern harrier gliding to
Utility pole perch – intense, alert
To rodent movement across dormant lawn.
Each day new bird appearance – wood ducks rest
On roofs on journey farther north – phoebes
Gently announce their assumptions of
Territory for rivals and for mates.
New order now being established as
We begin to understand why we’re here.
*
Choreographed appearance of worms
And robins, hawks and rodents, unfurling
Of tree leaves and insect appetites –
Cycles of decimation and abundance.
*
Red maple buds are now blossoming
Tiny red flowers on massive tree – no
Sign of beauty, no hint of ability
To send seed soaring across distances
Yet little flecks of deep red make their way
From ancient tree – outward expression of
Some will to persist in present form and
To expand into future generations
Allowing us to feel silent effort
That is required for us to become
Ourselves – our own expression of needed
Urge to propagate this present moment
Leaving us in continuous motion
Leading all of us forward to right here.
*
New generations having been cast
Abroad, red maple renews itself through
Slow unfurling of buds into leaves
Each day almost unnoticed opening
As insects awaken lodged in bark
Inviting nuthatches serious playful
Upside down foraging in bark crevices
Symbiotic animated expression
Of forces that complete leaf unfurlment
Inviting mocking bird to alight atop
Ancient maple as pileated woodpecker
Harvesting larvae from rotten former limbs.
Vociferous mocking bird announcing
That renewal has been achieved again.
*
Snake sojourning in stacked firewood
Canadian goose standing watch as
Flock pecks up insect larvae, defecating.
*
Tiny shoots of new grass appearing through
Old brown remnants of last year’s lifeless growth
Interspersed with shoots of dandelion,
Thistle and other uninvited plants.
Pregnant doe just weeks from birthing her fawn
Grazes over vast lawn ripping up new
Grass and old – just glad not to eat sapling
Bark anymore – contented with small shoots.
Lawn finally covered with full green growth
Doe, eating, luxuriating in grazing
As fawn’s awkward frolics are interspersed
With nursing mama’s milk from the source
Extending backward past grass digestion
To Sun’s renewal of our presence here.
*
Woods cross lawns pecking up insects, worms, spiders
Exploring every aspect of terrain
Seeking mastery of one’s world as hedge
Against unanticipated changes:
Thunderstorms, coyotes, hawk predation.
As summer heat approaches and berries
Slowly ripen, poults molt and mature.
Lawnmower cutting down fast growing spears.
Unmuffled engine noise driving turkeys
Into wood’s shelter pecking up tiny
Tree frogs – always finding the nearest way
Leading through genetic history,
Once again arriving at our source.
*
Brief abundance established by solstice:
Coyotes deftly harvesting their crop.
Azrael
As the Angel of Death appeared before
Some fearful aspect of myself portending
Death’s imminence, something in me wondered
Who among this tribe of my selves is doomed?
Since fear itself constitutes warden, guard,
Walls and bars of my imprisonment,
What would be left if fearfulness were
To die? Would courage emerge and take charge?
Or would my legion of petty selves cry
Jail brake and scatter, leaving this body
Shuddering in supplication, praying
For a master to feed and shelter it?
As for Azrael himself whose visage
Portends one’s inescapable death,
Does he always bring down the whole man
Or just one susceptible aspect?
Can I live on if my jailor dies, this
One who has always defined what I am
In every moment of my life to date?
Can what is left emerge as one being?
Or am I condemned to be like a worm
A fisherman cuts into segments
Which can never again be brought together
Into a single thriving being?
As some deeper aspect of myself
Offers up this imprisoner called
Fearfulness, hoping it will catch a glimpse
Of Azrael walking his nightly rounds,
Something else comes together within.
I am one single whole which includes
Desire and aspiration
Fear and perception
Dreaming and attentiveness
Grumbling and quiescence
Who is going to die tonight/who will live?
I summon what can be summoned
I receive what can be received
Awaiting quietly, satisfied and
Alert to every possibility –
Having succumbed to death already.
