- Reconnaissance
- The sun’s rays against this pile of oak awaken
- A world. We’ve fenced it off with chicken wire
- To deter them, our local thieves, who take in
- Every detail. We never see but hear
- Them on patrol. Predictable as the fall
- Of leaves, that scratch of tires and metallic skip
- Of bike chains in the dark. Sometimes they steal
- A rake forgotten in the yard, or slip
- Away with packages from the porch.
- Begrudgingly we allow them cans and bottles
- From the recycling bin. In summer they search
- The garden for its unpicked vegetables.
- Hunger drives us all. Our wood is warmth to us
- And them as well. And so, we guard these logs
- As best we can, while they await that generous
- Hour opportunity provides: our dogs
- Asleep, the floodlight out, and heavy winds
- To hide the clamorous work of plunder.
- Nothing missing this morning. I rub my hands
- Against the cold, then circle back and wonder.
- First Signs
- (May 1, 2020)
- It’s time again to pull the weeds and train
- The vines, to plant new seeds and watch for rain.
- It’s past time. Winter deaths withered early spring
- And have weakened my resolve. Yet, still I cling
- To last year’s certainties now proven false.
- I knew winter would come and that the pulse
- Of rufous wings and Robin songs would cease.
- I understood a stillness must increase
- In the evening shade that would soon entice the pears
- To drop and settle beside the garden shears.
- I thought I had already encountered it before.
- The eager, even anxious, morning hour,
- When frost no longer holds past dark, had been
- For me that first desire. I’d let the screen
- Door slam behind me as I ran outside
- To taste the changing air, inspect the shed,
- And start to sort the mess that winter had left.
- This year is not familiar. We are bereft
- Of rhythm in its return. Absence remains
- Palpable, like the unhealthy film that stains
- The half-emptied ditch along my neighboring road.
- We wear masks everywhere we go and load
- Our cars with toilet paper, bags of beans,
- And rice.
- This is no usual spring, but rains
- Will come. I think the rains will come.
- At least, I pray they will, and prayer’s a kind of trust.
John Gallagher holds a B.A. and M.A. in English from the University of Dallas. He and his family live in the Northwest.