From our Spring/Summer 2006 issue, our second NaPoMo featured poem, by one of our favorite poets and people, Geri Doran.
A Landing Place for Birds
Trick grass moves like quail, becomes quail.
Half a yard away, a stellar's jay
blues into the underbrush.
Here is a squander hart, I say,
meaning heart--
but the deer's in the picture now, too,
its fine hair dampened by mist
ferried in from the nearby sea.
Everything gathers. Starfish
line the beach, yesterday's cobalt
leached into the welcoming sand.
Today, white and skeletal,
the bodies remain in place of themselves.
In the hand-made casket--birch,
like you wanted--we put our tenderest gifts.
Who speaks with any knowing?
If soul perishes, how do I explain
the brilliant softness of your hair?
There's an arch here you'd like--
carved from virgin redwood.
We overlook the ocean, the arch,
the hart and me. And everywhere
come birds, come dreams
of birds.
1 comment:
"A Landing Place for Birds" is an absolutely beautiful poem. Geri Doran truly created each word, each image, each brushstroke behind the lines with such talent that the overall feeling left by this poem is one that mirrors the beauty of nature with the sadness of the life within it. My favorite lines are:
"Who speaks with any knowing?
If soul perishes, how do I explain
the brilliant softness of your hair?"
I feel that this loss is a broad, universal sentiment, and yet Geri Doran is able to personalize it with such a personal human touch. A wonderful poem, thank you for allowing me the chance to read it!
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