 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
ART |
|
SHARK REEF
A Publication of the Lopez Writers
Guild
Vol. 6, No. 1
Winter 2006-07
Poetry
by John Sangster
July
Quiet on the deck this morning. Dry July, no dew on the table,
the Straits
glassy flat where local breezes brushstroke the surface a darker
blue.
Beyond, the Olympics hunker on the horizon, their peaks touched
with
white. A dog barks in the distance. Closer by I hear a raven having
a
disjointed conversation with herself, no doubt about the events
of the
weekend, the raven convention that took place down here on this
end of
the island: caucus meetings high over the bay, two ravens flying
in from
the west, two from the east, and a single from who knows where,
rolling
and tumbling overhead. I couldn't tell if they were arguing or
partying, all
of them talking at once, then sailing off only to reconvene later.
At one
point four ravens dropped out of the sky and did a single file,
bill-to-tail U
turn over the house, then vanished into the woods. I took it as
a sign, but
I'm not sure of what. Quiet here on the deck this morning. Too
quiet.
September
Two crows steal apples from the orchard, black-eyed thieves
shuttling their
cargo (only what's ripe) into the woods. Do I pick now or wait
until the
crop's ready, risking a full-scale heist? Not just crows, either:
coons,
woodpeckers . . . When you live in the country, my neighbor says,
it's hard
to keep the country at bay. What's ours, a human construct, a
curious theory
having nothing to do with the way the world works. The crows,
here since
the ice age, can't imagine why we newcomers would want to grow
fruit for
them. Whatever, they say. Kings, Jonagolds, Spartans - delicious.
Copyright © 2006 John Sangster
John Sangster has published personal essays and poems in several publications. He is a winner of the 2002 Jack Straw Award. Recently he has been writing prose poems, a form he is drawn to for its freedom and flexibility, and because it is a form that "defies definition." His works have appeared in several issues of SHARK REEF.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ART |
|
© 2003 Lopez Writers Guild
Made on a Mac by
Leta Currie Marshall