Today I might dig in the dirt. I might try finishing my Hindenburg poem. I might consider the parameters of an essay about cooking. Or I might sit on the back stoop and close my eyes and listen to birds. There are so many birds in this clearing--such a motley, vivid wave of pioneers taming this little scrap of springtime Earth.
Home
Dawn Potter
So wild it was when we first settled here.
Spruce roots invaded the cellar like thieves.
Skunks bred on the doorstep, cluster flies jeered.
Ice-melt dripped shingles and screws from the eaves.
We slept by the stove, we ate meals with our hands.
At dusk we heard gunshots, and wind and guitars.
We imagined a house with a faucet that ran
From a well that held water. We canvassed the stars.
If love is an island, what map was our hovel?
Dogs howled on the mainland, our cliff washed away.
We hunted for clues with a broken-backed shovel.
We drank all the wine, night dwindled to grey.
When we left, a flat sunrise was
threatening snow,
But the frost heaves were deep. We
had to drive slow.
[forthcoming in Same Old Story (CavanKerry Press, 2014)]
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