Early Winter You Stand in a Forest (JG)

You hear the wind knocking long shadows done up into

ribbons the hollow sound a stick against a log

the mud firming, the wind dries it more than the sun,

more than two weeks in July, just the wind moving some

You hear a scratching you wonder and decide a bush maybe

Forsythia brushing an oak elm some tree in the stand

nearby you say twelve weeks from now they'll be

in bloom, yellow flowers coming up soft paper

but now just wind if you had a kite you'd stand

with your back to the wind, release it, watch it move like a

wave of birds (say sparrows, sparrows are cheap)

you wonder has the heat of the last few days loosened

the trees, greased their limbs so now with this wind

they move like waves I'm sure it's not from here

this wind here the wind is quiet says please

asks for butter with its bread But this wind is too much

even for some birds they stay out of it sure

wait it out behind trees and near water