Selections from 'This Kettle's Good For one More Cup Of Light.'

XXXXI

I knew we would

break through

to a joy so thick

we thought we would never

find

our way home

death cradled us

between the waves

not smooth and sure

with safe and tired eyes

but

with bent hands

lifted in song

and blood thick

with reaching out

XXXXII

the tops of the hardwood sway

like the waves of a deep and distant sea

boughs of spruce and fir bend

with the weight of yesterday’s snow

a crimson and yellow horizon blends

with a blue that darkens as light fades

thoughts twist and rise

like sap through trees

the moon a pale disk

sinks into night

something stirs the

tips of my fingers…

XXXXIII

the old dog breaths heavy

by my back door

the clock ticks

the fridge hums

the kids sleep

on the living room floor

snow covers the roof like the

frosting on Jasiah’s birthday cake

rooted to the past with a firm base

on rock and wood for winter

the north close...     close

XXXXIV (for Ralph Gates)

I look down the narrow path straight

from the judas hole of my hope

might make it... might get a deer

the old outhouse shored against the weather

in this soft darkness... dry    

and out of the wind... my foot asleep

mouse climbing the walls... apples

stacked in a corner... a monk silence

a buck snorts and crashes

through the bush

slowly... slowly... the flashlight

finds its target

green eyes watch... meat

to cut... earth to remember

XXXXV

in the shade

I can feel the wind

and hear the distant slam

of a car door

I’m old with waiting    

and remember when the harvest slipped

through your hands

my

heart froze to the line

the pump broke... the hoe down

at thirteen I listened to the big trucks

gear down on the other side of the hill

I am a poet and blueberry farmer living in Belleisle Creek, NB. These poems are from a collection I am working on titled, This Kettle's Good For onr More Cup Of Light. I have two books published, The Guest Touches Only Those Who Prepare (Owl's Head Press, New Brunswick,1991, ISBN 0-920635-06-7) and Seeing The World With One Eye (Broken Jaw Press, New Brunswick, 1998, ISBN 0-921411-69-3).