Poems by Christopher Locke
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Humiliation
by Christopher Locke
From Canary Spring 2019
Christopher lives in the Au Sable watershed in Upper Jay, New York, at the top of The Adirondack Park. During winter (which is long), turkey, deer, bobcat, coyote, and fox tracks stitch the snowy backyard into a running mosaic.
April returns, and you
find yourself lost under
mountain pine, gin-tipped
pikes shagged green and harmless.
A recitation of loneliness, lips
counting the rings of headless
old growth. God fills the clouds
with his absence, boughs
steeped above you in halting
crush, unreachable as the corn
flower sky ringing with your bargain
at forgiveness, acceptance;
the ache of a cold bloom.
© Christopher Locke