Talisman
At the back of the head
a giant
anchors the eyelet sea:
in its jaw, a
bone
is singing: good fortune.
Moraine
Through
rhyme
braided
to thyme
followed
the scent that
tumbles,
breast-
high, dream-
thin.
Un-
thinking,
saw;
blinded,
heard
how they lie
cluster and
stray,
sometimes
seem to float.
Night Song
Cypress,
night's
needle, my
life's
slow gyre,
long night, long
dawn, the
star-
bristled day.
Wind-Gathered
Wind-gathered
the tidal
air
—gardening
crests.
Nightbells'
alarm:
as many rooms as
tongues.
But from the
prairies' glitter
to the estuary:
the grain.
June Poppies
June
poppies
flush
with the road
opening,
shutting,
the pine
mirrors
out
over the fields
the star-
braced shadows:
all
things
under a name.
Dolls' Houses
I saw
through death's
little door
at Cartier's
the wizened tables,
and chairs.
__________________
Karin Lessing
Collected Poems
Shearsman Books
2010
