LONG VIEW
Back when I wondered what
I had to do to make it, I knew
I would know it when I saw it,
The way I would know a lion
Flicking her tail in the grass had
Fixed her desire on me. Back then
Each day opened itself, brilliant
And blank as empty glass. This
I knew of beauty: its hunger,
Its delicate provocations. And yes,
I believed the day waited to be filled,
And me to fill it. Only how
Would I ever open myself so far,
How could I pour without spilling?
THE KINGDOM ASSERTS ITSELF
First, squirrels, calling
Annoyance at my progress
To fetch the paper, my news
All their concern, none of it.
Then, the hummingbirds
Rocketing straight up
And topping the trees,
Scouting for feeders I am late
Hanging on the balcony,
Buzzing my ears. Where
Have I been, the orioles
Also insist, or rather
Where is their grape jelly
And could I go away now?
Every day passes through
Demand and response, raccoon
Growling over the bins, food
Herself for the rarely spotted
Bobcat easing his shy
Body up the walk, curving
Himself to see me. Even
After dark I hear the eerie Who
Are you, wings with and without
Feathers filling the air
With audible silence. Some
Questions have no answers
I can give. Others
None I will take.
WHALE FALL
Because they live in the dark
Mostly they live in
Their ears, listening, singing
Back. We drop microphones
And eavesdrop below
The surface, letting them make us
Fishers of sound. They surface
When they want and bob
Pointing their eyes at us in our
Strange vessels and bright
Flotation vests. Why don’t we
Come on in? They flip and dive
And return, those great
Temptresses, and wink, and finally
When they’ve exhausted
Our capacity to amuse them
Roll their vastness into
Greater vastness. Because
They sometimes throw
Themselves onto our shores,
Enormous, evacuated, where
They never meant to be, and like
Any body start to stink, we think
We know their fates. But when
They come to their ends in deep
Waters, like us, alone, they sink
Back to where they came from
Out of sight and deep, where
We all came from, whether
Or not we end there.