Time Out 1

Morning Fog

In her poem, “In Blackwater Woods”, Mary Oliver writes, “To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.” This and my surroundings on Vashon Island inspire me to write.

                                     

Tethered

Vashon Island

April 23, 2015

All night long

the wind rattled the house

and roared through the trees

wildly hurling debris

against the windowpanes

waking me

from bazaar dreams

of tearing at fish flesh,

my mouth an eagle’s beak.

Fearful of the storm’s ferocity,

I fretted about the dock’s mooring;

untethered now, I am aware

of weakened tensile strength and vulnerability,

 but as shafts of morning light

whisper the awakening of a new day,

I notice salal leaves glistening,

ferns unfurling

and seedlings carpeting the spongy understory.

An hawk circles overhead

and fog redesigns the contours of the bay.

Of course, I remind myself, it’s all different today.

All around me, I feel the pregnancy of spring,

and I rest, for a time,

in the grace of the world

and am free.

(Last three lines borrowed from Wendall Berry's
"The Peace of Wild Things")

Evening Calm

Brian's Office/Poet's Aerie

    

The Big House