Prairie Burn, iii.

you say burned out and it means loss
unbelonging here or there, certain
withdrawal root by root, shriveled

another fire set to renew
ensure survival, this smoke
sinks low on black field

gutted clean to bare soil—
when comes the flush of green
growth? will it

march pond

death of death, softened
air; reeds, grasses a graveyard
of old sculpture snow-huddled
in slow collapse—

blue-sky water glitters
blackbirds trill and trill