Six Poems of Change
Previously unpublished and revised poems Copyright © 2010 by Michael Smetzer
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The Oak and the Sassafras The girl pronounced him an oak, herself a mitten tree, supple under his strong limbs. Her red hair growing up into his iron gray. Now fire burns in his snow; dead limbs creak on her crown.(first published in Mostly Maine)
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Second Wife
The bride greets her husband’s children at their door. The husband hands each child a lily. He hands the bride hard candy. He folds his arms as they exchange these gifts. The wife will make dinner while the children play. The children will wash dishes while the wife reads.(first published in Mostly Maine)
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Two Approaches to the Lake At sunrise the last snow withdraws its fog into the fissures and braces among the rocks. In the lake below, mountains poise. * River falls from sky and boils in the pool. Brown sinews slip through rocks and foam. Beyond, sunflames shudder on deep water. A skiff sets out along the shore.(first published in Kennebec)
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Her Brother’s Debt Owing his widowed foreman a great debt, the brother brought his sister overseas. She came mute, her thoughts folded in her bags. At breakfast she listened like a table to their sounds. She married with his dishes in the sink. She has unleashed the foreman’s toddler from the line. She has taught the foreman’s son to sing, his oldest daughter to braid her hair, and the foreman to snore gently through her dreams.(first published in Chants)
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The Unwanted Arrival His mother comes to stay, her faith a mountain in his rooms. He shuts his vices in the closet, and they talk of herbs. Sundays and Wednesdays her candles burn at church. Fridays and Saturdays his fires flame through bars.**************
Rising Above She admits them but opens no liquor. Three years they’ve been digging her grave. Now her thoughts are thunder and rain. Their heads are old snags in her river. She rises above and floats free. She will row on her waters to the sea.
