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A Path for Trees
There’s a photograph of two rows of trees
and in between a path like a road
cosseted by the fleece of falling snow
impressed on us alone
I wonder how we can say with certainty
the trees were planted in this fashion
or why we choose to imagine a footpath
carved for us alone
When at the end of the open living space
our eyes are deceived by shadiness
under rows and rows of further pines
fixed for us alone
Nothing is said of our trodden thoughts
expect nothing on the far-off walk
except for the long and lone way out
for us and us alone
In the shadow of the pines/Photo by L.C McClure, Denver
(Source: Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library)
Hoar Frost
I learned the difference between a spruce and a fir
By noting the needles—
Your long grey fingers clasping
The softer not so conical shape of the fir
—Now my favourite evergreen
In the woods death is not so lonely or drab
Whisking past the brush in her damsel gown
A spectacle against the sepia terrain
Why wouldn’t we pause here
In the crackling certainty of an exploration
Where we are amiss and straggling
As two sheared cowards slit from the neck down
We should depend on the tattling juncos
For our own incongruities
For the weeping birch on your shoulder
That grows forceps and claims the sparkle
Of each solitary crystal of cooling
Desi Di Nardo is a poet and author in Toronto whose work has been published in numerous North American and international journals. Her poetry has been performed in Canada's National Arts Centre, featured in Poetry on the Way on the Toronto Transit Commission, selected by the Parliamentary Poet Laureate, and displayed in the Official Residences of Canada. Desi’s poems have also been presented in schools across the country and translated into foreign languages. “Hoar Frost” can be found in her new book of poetry titled The Plural of Some Things. For more information, visit www.desidinardo.com
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