A river runs chasing its stillness
A leaf flying away in a postage stamp
sending itself back to itself
The grass is searching through the grass
The cresting sea waves are a crazed construction—
gulls rise out of it crying ruin, ruin
And the travelling eye of light
is focusing through the rain
floating vast transparent arks in the shoreless air.
Questions and Answers
What inspired “Arks”?
I was thinking about imagination. The arks here are arks of the imagination.
What poetic techniques did you use in “Arks”?
I was trying here to be faithful to an intonation I could hear in my head.
This poem “Arks” originally appeared in Magic & Other Realisms. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 116 (Spring 1988): 96.
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