Mangroves are soused
In Kulak spirits.
Ice melts.
Persuading seasons dilute pasts
Absorbing the roots of chanterelles.
There are cliff edged dusks
That do not bottom out.
Jean-Claude tests the magnesium
Of the splashing stream.
The snowplough brakes
On the upcast path
Sodden as moonlight.
Close-set again
Ivan and Jean-Claude arrive at the park
For impressionable afternoons,
Regimenting memory.
The brilliant waft
Of twenty complimenting shades of green.
The peak
Wordy on Tolstoy,
A shabby lore
Under Jean-Claude’s arm.
And the surge over rock
Grabbing time,
Impelling it on.
Scampering rats
A flying squirrel
The croak of ruddy ducks
In a wood
Layered rough
With mossy bark.
