Plenty of Road

Isn't he pretty? He was here again today and at last there were four pairs

of wood ducks with him and his common companions. The pair of wigeons

didn't show up today, but they are back! All the way from the breeding grounds 

in the far, far, far, still frozen north!

BEFORE THE FIRST LIGHT

It's another dream with no roads, but plenty

Of footsteps. One dark tree, a willow, the leaves

Still affected by the rainwater's wanting.

My body is shaped like a dog,

Lying beside a river, watching the grass

On the other side move. My body moves

In no particular direction.

I lie on my haunches and look at the tree.

Blind to the movement of clouds.

Deaf to the sounds of crow.

The tree is shaped like a woman who's crying.

Her daughter has been hot by a car.

Her leg is broken, the bone snapped.

She is screaming. She is pointing 

At her leg and stretching her head back.

A sudden wind and the tree bends. Branches

Stretch against the air, the returning rain.

It is not a woman, but a tree again.

No footsteps in sight, but plenty of road.

David Biespiel

Shattering Air, 

BOA Editions Ltd, 1996, page 34

And now it is time for us to write our dream poems. 

I think mine will also have trees in it!  jhh