January 22: Conversations with Trees

Tonight I participated in a poetry reading at the Curtis Public Library in Brunswick with five other poets and Leonard Meiselman, an artist who had filled the room with his paintings and sketches of trees. We each read pieces (written by ourselves and others) that related to trees. The diversity of voices amid the dynamic energy of the art made for an interesting program in which I was honored to take part.

My husband Paul composed this haiku in honor of our friend Gary Lawless, one of the other participating poets, who had coordinated the evening:

At tonight's reading

every man wore a grey beard--

a room full of Ents.

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January 21: Moonrise

moon slowly rises

eavesdropping at the bar

while I sip my cocktail

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January 20: Celestial

Five planets at dawn

remind us of the old gods,

forgotten rituals.

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January 19: What came to pass

Cold hard facts of deer 

tracks in the snowy yard:

it's all happened before. 

January 18: Flurries

Recurring motif:

flurry of crow flight

within early swirling snow.

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January 17: Otter joy

We joined some friends in chasing a bird today in Winter Harbor--Maine's second record of a Black-throated Sparrow, a bird that belongs in Arizona--and after we found it, did some sea-watching on the Schoodic Peninsula. Amid the sea ducks and alcids, we were thrilled to spot three otters swimming together with grace and power through the sizable swells. Then we heard a loud chirping noise that at first we thought belonged to some strange bird, but which we quickly realized was being made by a fourth otter. It joined the original three otters, with a seal close behind it. The four otters rapidly headed for shore together and climbed up into some sort of den in the rocks. We think the chirping was some sort of alarm call, to warn the others of the seal. An exciting experience to witness as we huddled, cold and awkward, on shore: animals completely at home in a habitat so inhospitable to humans.

Four river otters

snaking through sea swells--

how to live in one's body.

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January 16: White world, bare branches

While shoveling snow
I count five squirrel nests
amid the bare branches.

January 15: Dial tone

Answering machine

talks to an empty house.

You have no new messages.

 

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January 14: Monhegan dream

In my dream last night

the boat's canceled,

I'm happily stuck on island.

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January 13: While we were away

Branches on the lawn--
while we were away
trees and wind threw a party.

January 12: Air travel

A friend from home was flying back from Miami the same day we were (we had dinner with him last night, in fact). He flew out at 7:00 a.m. and went through New York. We flew out at 10:30 a.m. and had a layover in lovely Newark. Yet somehow, we all ended up meeting our baggage in Portland at 4:00 p.m. Ah, the joys and vagaries of air travel.

He left hours before us
and yet here we all are, home,
at baggage claim.