Free
Verse
from
The World behind it, Chaos
Renewal
Three days ago, oats still
stood in this field, tan and proud.
Two days ago, the man walked
swaths; the oats appeared braided,
like Challah. Yesterday, the combine tossed stems in tangled
rows.
Today, the man walks out
through the stubble again: he confesses
weariness—drought in a dusty field—he begs forgiveness for all
he has not done.
A heron silently lifts from the
beaver pond. A pair of sandhill cranes chortle
as they rise from the hayfield’s boundary with the oat field.
Next year,
the hayfield will hold corn, the other field will rest with
hay. Even now, the seed
already sown down, the man sees grass shoots, struggling
clover, green
amid the stubble, rising from a thin layer of chaff left by
the threshing combine.
The husks return to soil; straw
stubble shades the new hay.
The man lifts his eyes, turns a
circle, sings a song.
The hay will feed the beasts,
as will the oats, as will the corn.
It is time for a change.
—August
12, 1998
Leaping
Deer
There is a snort just
before a deer bolts:
if I listen carefully I can be prepared for the tawny
flash,
a deer across my path, inspiration I can ride
leaping through brush and woods—
inspiration born of exhalation
Clouds
The moon throws dice with
shadows
and the winds toss hexagrams in dust,
revealing a lust for self, while
a sculptor's eye roves across the sea.
He never answered the post card she sent
of the mask; her celebration went uninterrupted
by chance or by the occasional glimpse
of sands which drain through small fingers.
The winds cannot apologize, sweeping away
the remnant of day in the evening rocks.
Read
About
The World Behind it, Chaos
in the Book Fair
Michael Dickel, a
poet and photographer with degrees in psychology, creative
writing and English Literature from the University of Minnesota,
teaches at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dickel's
prize-winning work has appeared in literary journals, art books,
and anthologies for over 20 years. This debut book magnificently
explores chaos & mystery.
View his website.
This is Michael Dickel's first
appearance in Sketchbook.
