SEVEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT A MOOSE (2005)

i
a winding road divides the woods;
the concrete river opens to a straightaway
and a moose saunters off the pavement,
disappearing into the thickets.

ii
i woke up at dawn to see the mist pulling
the sky into the pond
everything was still except for the shifting
gray spaces of haze
and a ripple expanding near the far bank

iii
i see the world through expectations and reflections
in my dream i was startled by a moose
and later realized it was (only) a deer

iv
in the soft illumination of departure
two with no certain destination
one pushed toward a moose
the other obstructed by it

v
a bone still flecked with loose fragments of flesh
exists as an artifact of death
and what we are supposed to find

vi
on top of a mountain a man sees only the path worn 
and the path waiting
not the peak itself
his saturated desire
finds the moose invisible

vii
first a statue settling into the blue cool
then an antlered rock hidden in silence
now fluttering wings that listen and 
cling to the sliding surface of the water
now velvet brown emerging into light and air