Earlier this year, Knopf released a paperback/expanded edition of David Young’s Field of Light and Shadow: Selected and New Poems. The book is over 300 pages—spanning almost 60 years of writing—and a treasure trove of insight, wit, and reverence for the natural world. Congratulations, David! Here is one of my favorites:
Faux Pas
The fox paused at the field’s edge, paw raised,
looked back and switched her tail, the way
a thrush will flutter among maple leaves—
that’s when I thought of you, choosing
your words, taking your careful steps,
sleeping so restlessly.
Our distance is not so much miles
as years and memories, mine such leafy compost
I shake my head, too full of duff and humus
to get a bearing or a fix. Foxfire, that weird
by-product of wood-decay, pulses in me today . . .
And look: after the vixen left, trailing a faint rank scent,
a freight passed slowly, flatcars in mizzling rain,
some of them loaded with truck trailers, some not,
objects that no more need attention than you need
waste time upon my lurching, coupled feelings.
Go with the fox—I send a sort of blessing
as gulls lift off the reservoir and day,
a spreading bruise against the western rim,
drains January and the freshened year.
Quite tonic, once pasdt the opening compulsive word play. Thanks for this, Denise.
Posted by: David Schloss | February 25, 2023 at 11:56 AM
Nice one! Thanks, Denise.
Posted by: Terence Winch | February 28, 2023 at 06:03 PM