Signals: Poems

What I Found

5 What I Found Keowee-Toxaway State Park,March 2006 I How long can you stare at the lake? How long can you stare at the sky? A boat’s wake massages the shore. In the sand, driftwood, limbs and roots worn smooth, numb. Take the largest piece you can carry back to the cabin. Place it on the porch like a totem. 6 II A small black conical shell, splinter the water left. Alder cones, resurrection plant, the dried pipsissewa. A merkin of moss. A scorpion, tail raised in threat, dry and dead, near the cabin door. A branch of forsythia in bloom, placed in a dark olive wine bottle. A little red rubber fish: child’s toy, evidence. 7 III The windows are dark.The light makes a circle of mossy lawn just beyond the door. On the radio someone sings, Who says you can’t go home? I haven’t spoken to my father in a decade. The lake is a darkness behind the night’s darkness. The rain isn’t here yet, but will be soon. ...