Two Poems

Nocturne

Without fail, late evening

sets off the neighbour’s treacle of bluegrass,

The mosquito’s kingdom of cool

sweat & petroleum—

What unmanageable sadness

to be without you

& everything otherwise impeccable,

a shirring of fir, lake, haskap:

Compendium of ought

to feel all right.

Aubade

I am kept awake listening

for the lonesome

timber wolf, sentinel

to what evaporates—

havoc of verglas on window,

& my tenuous finger tracing

length of river, lure of ephemera.

The doctor labels my grim

anatomy nothing to worry about,

labels me unruly with drinking solo,

prescribes Strauss, nature walks

with a sweet-tempered dog, & less

remorse for avoiding those I love.