Where I Was Better Known

"Finding that my fellow-citizens were not likely to offer me any room in the court house, or any curacy or living anywhere else, but I must shift for myself, I turned my face more exclusively than ever to the woods, where I was better known." – Thoreau, from "Economy"











In February, lilac retreats to osiers.
Imperative to a snowman's profile,
carrots get more expensive...  – Brodsky



A fine veneer set out by car window;
as the sun bulb becomes an untouchable
image as it shifts from across windshield,
the curbs crisp, even the pine bough unable
to do its favored exchange from frozen roots
as another vortex teaches us new tools,

not the simple undirected attention
that soothes us by the formation of coming summer
where memories ease and the mind
synapses no longer prey upon self-reflections.
If a wish were but living as hours.
If the earth a newfound Lord to power.