Jared Carter Away Poems
- 1. Spirea
Then she came, the sybil, out through the doors
of The Bell, the single drinking establishment
permitted in that narrow little country town-
she came out neither staggering nor collapsing
... - 2. A Christmas Morning
One of my father's oldest stories:
how when he was a boy growing up
in that town, there were no ponies.
Buggies were gone almost as soon
... - 3. Flambeau
There, where the pool of mortal light begins
to gather, where the rivulet breaks free
to make a fire, a flame blows in the wind.
... - 4. First Snow
To clear the walk before the children start
for school, you rise and dress, and take the broom
beside the door, and go out into darkness
where the snow you sweep from side to side
... - 5. A Drawing In The Tate Gallery:
“The Man Who Taught Blake Painting in His Dreams”
is still around somewhere. Survived the smoke
and fires, the footsteps melting into stone,
... - 6. The Clapping
There is a grace in the way people do things, even the simplest tasks-
the dance with which their fingers encircle the chicken's gaze, coaxing
the edges of its eyes into paleness, their calling upon it to rest now,
their speaking in a way that acknowledges something common to both of them-
... - 7. Labyrinth
Somewhere within the murmuring of things
that make no difference-aimlessly playing,
drifting in the wind-a loose door swings,
... - 8. In The North Pasture
After we called the sheriff, they came
and hauled it away. But there was
one interviewer who stayed behind,
to ask if we'd seen any strange lights
...
