Category Archives: outside

Sydney Cast in Shadow

Sydney Cast in Shadow The garden stroll before a matinee balletbirds of paradise gawking these palms this lushnessthis pristine park dustless alleythese streakfree storefront windowsthis cloudless painless blue this skylineetched with geometric concrete wavesjutting saucer tower arcing bridgesailboat-speckled placid harbor this paper bagsoaked in grease from fish and chips Me too far away to seemyContinue reading “Sydney Cast in Shadow”

Easter Saturdays

Easter Saturdays (tentative title because I stink at titles) Cars full of people split the swamp where my creek flows.They must not ponder, pause, stare at hollowed logs,branchless trunks and wonder about the end of winter,spring still a whisper in the trickle of cold water through the culvert. What does all this dying mean, thisContinue reading “Easter Saturdays”

Cascade Valley

Look, my daughter, the pine treedropped its seeds, and herea fragile sapling braves the forest floor.This used to be a birch treebut maybe lightning sliced it,wind heaved its heavy breath against itand now the trunk is rust.Sticks used to flirt, flaretheir skirts of springtime buds, but now we throw the broken limbsinto the rushing floodwatersContinue reading “Cascade Valley”

Psalm 40

BootsPsalm 40 These boots by the door are still cakedwith hardened clay, their leather darkenedby water, still swelling, absorbing,the flannel lining damp and pungent.Clumps of mud stick to the kitchen floor,discarded here and there from the fieldthat pulled and sucked until I was stuck.I will not use the broom – I like the imprintsleft behind,Continue reading “Psalm 40”

The Swale

Roving feet get suctioned in the swale.Mud leaches between laces and leatherbefore you see the depression coming. The valley looked drier, but spring rainand winter melt had no time to evaporateor seep deeper into the earth, harmless. This land rises up in such a way that dipsare unpredictable. Perhaps shallow cavitieswill always be damp, hollowsContinue reading “The Swale”