Concord
The people, the music
filledness of rush hour
traffic skirting puddles
work crews packing in
laughswearingmudyellowed
slickers lighting candle bombs.
My sadness the euphoric
detachment.
I love this town.
It breathes me.
The Fisher
To cast far is to cast well.
I’ve always believed that
the biggest fish are just
beyond my range
and lie in dark water
I could never swim to.
But experience is the wisdom
that has me now casting
closer to shore,
nearest the reeds
and overgrowth — a subtleness
geared to result.
It’s still early in the season
and the beaches are lined
with jars of worms
and salmon eggs —
talk of bag limits
and hatchery trucks.
I’m glad though to see
the lines
with hooks and bobbers
already hung up
in limbs of overhanging oaks —
caught there by kids
who swear and pull
and fall on their ass.
They see my fish and ask
where they are
and how to catch them.
I tell them
they have the right idea
and to just keep
humming it out there.
Raccoon
I’ve stopped the chinks
with newspaper and rags
wedged tightly
against the wind blowing
cold three days now.
I feed the fire and curse
its hissing and steaming
mixing green oak
with sticks of dried pine
calling myself
Raccoon
grown fat in the suburbs
sleeping in hollowed elms
waiting for the lights
to go out.
The Snow
has dropped a seamlessness
before the plows and children
can patch it back
to a jagged and arbitrary quilting
putting borders to design
and impulse.
I imagine myself
falling everywhere
softly,
whispering,
I am here,
and
I am here.
Goathouse
In reaching for the scythe
I’m reminded of the whetstone
and the few quick strokes
by which it was tested—
the hardness of hot August;
the burning of ticks
off dog backs.
It’s winter now
in this garage made barn,
and the animals seem only curious
that I’d be here so late
on a cold night lit dimly
by a single hanging bulb.
They don’t bother to stir
and disturb their warm huddle.
Cudchewers, we pay each other
little attention.
The curve of the handle still fits.
The blade shines,
its edge oiled against rust.
The loft is full
of Jack Mattison’s field.
There’s nothing to do —
my content is preparedness,
the simplicity of knowing.
