Wednesday, October 10, 2012

route by Barbara Langhorst


route

1.

thud  (a death in the house) 
the strong beating of portents returns and how poetry moves 
the gray bird hangs (dismiss signs) suspended moving in rhythm feathers splayed  
such odd calm my long fear  reality  helpless voyager folding wings  breast crushed
to the screen  eyes  darting  confidence  regaining  long long minutes  this smash
of the heart 

and suddenly  flight

2.

and suddenly  flight
or flit the freedom of yellow amongst august leaves  gold above and below black wing
last week a glancing note  faced with a name scrawled 500 miles away at my man's work migration halts for fear of deep water   forced on by cold (o wild canary of my youth) american goldfinch mates late  so vibrant a cautious approach
to the season

in our reckless garden

3.

in our reckless garden
sweet clover scotch climate russian thistle and yarrow tall stand a promise to legions
a phalanx of sparrows pick at the well-soaked alfalfa wild war mosquito and blackfly
a mite in my eye (castenada's gnat  guarding the next new dimension) fear devours my undulating delphinium world  monsoon summer a changed saskatchewan  a gray convention mobs

the blue glowing screen

4.

the blue glowing screen
tells all  chickadee brains (too tiny for irrelevancies) shed details that pertain no more regrow neurons in fall   register fresh seed caches   my aging mind  forgets    details
retains the way  not the matter   search for a black-capped bird online by headgear
find cornell lab report  fall feeding moves from insects to seeds  wild chickadee casts pathways anew

recaps flight to the source

5.

recaps flight to the source
the mystic mind hums   interaction calls an immanent world to light on monastic
paw  from sources unseen (o so intimate)  wired  household canaries take radical paths ditch last year's song learn fresh each fall as one first beginning to build the talent
for immortality hatched in one's children  the celebrant clears thick aphasic slush
in karmic shed

the diminished heart flies light

6.

the diminished heart flies light
in deeper solitude each burst of pain  a brush or touch transcends lost words
rescinds berkeley's fallen tree  what song heats february or august apocalypse
that monitors   an interface glimpsed through a veil  projects surplus shadows  
such reckless concentric wars articulate change the constant of love of fear
and immanent life

thud  (a death in the house)

7.

thud  (a death in the house)
the diminished heart flies light
recaps flight to the source
the blue glowing screen
in our reckless garden
and suddenly   

flight





Barbara Langhorst's first book of poetry, restless white fields, was published in April 2012 (NeWest Press).  Her work has appeared in CV2, filling station, the Society, and the collection Bush Dweller (2010).  Born and educated in Edmonton, AB, she holds a PhD from the University of Alberta and teaches at St. Peter's College in Muenster, SK, where she has had the pleasure of meeting many of Canada's finest writers.

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