Cribbed Logs

A defining fire:
Carbon remains;
A curriculum derived
From a test of lives,
Escape velocities,
And tusks dropping
To the ground.
After which
An absent sound,
Silence of
Startled birds,
Replaces words.

Closed Geometry

[photo, son David: St. Malo, France]

A sloping downland over
Cliffs where morning
Mist veiled distance--
Sound and dreams
Reforming gray
Watery light served
Our needs as we
Woke, confused,
Emerged from night
Amnestic and saw
Light thread
Dawn to the
Hill we stood on.

Chainsaw

Winter warmth is
Exculpation enough
For me to take down
This poor tree,
Buck its dead wood,
Free the light
Of other years
Inside its rings.
There's some good
In the warmth it
Brings, and no blame.
All life is combustion,
All one flame.