BY THE FERRY LANDING
Clouds gather, an angry mob,
then silently scatter, no rain.
Some days you’ve just got to believe
there is no grand plan.
We have found each other by chance,
and by chance we spy a great egret
in the marsh by the ferry landing.
Ever so slowly, it stretches its neck
over the water, poised for the strike.
It’s a marvel, what they’ve become —
part sedge, part wind, part spear —
evolving from a relentless desire
to join sea and sky.
ICE TO ICE
As always, this far north,
there comes a day in late September
when, floating on your back in the pond,
staring into the illusory blue of sky and desire,
catching out of the corner of your eye
the leaves quitting to yellow and red,
ready to let loose, fully spent, you know
it’s your last swim for the year.
The earth exhales its evening breath,
whispers the need to rest
in its long, uneasy dialogue
with the unfathomable.
Even back in the expanse of summer,
the water held this promise, flowing
in those ribbons of cold current,
resisting the sun’s will, reminding you
that, in no time at all, you’ll huddle
again by the woodstove, the kitchen light,
long for the arrival of company and the refuge
of company’s grace. Though on occasion,
when the indoor world turns tired and dry,
you’ll slip outside, without a word,
and lace your skates beneath a bright moon,
thrill to the warp and crack of ice,
the groans of the great shifting land,
and glide off on quick blades,
lean anyway you please,
scripting resistance.
Michael Brosnan lives in Exeter, New Hampshire. His most recent poetry book is The Sovereignty of the Accidental (Harbor Mountain Press, 2018). His poems have appeared in numerous journals in the U.S. and elsewhere. He’s also the author of Against the Current, a book on inner-city education, and serves as the senior editor for the website Teaching While White.
Michael Brosnan lives in Exeter, New Hampshire. His most recent poetry book is The Sovereignty of the Accidental (Harbor Mountain Press, 2018). His poems have appeared in numerous journals in the U.S. and elsewhere. He’s also the author of Against the Current, a book on inner-city education, and serves as the senior editor for the website Teaching While White.
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