Flight Across the Heather

pace out the terrain
bait the line with herring
plant kale
talk about the weather
separate rumor
from intelligence
phrase against the pulse

*

bog has suffered damage
the drained sites prone
to scrub invasion

slow the water flow
raise the water table
rewet cracked peat

brash crushing
stump flipping
ground smoothing

*

who cares for the lapwing
who for the tufted vetch
who cares for the dingy skipper
who for the dune gentian
who cares for the barn owl
who who who

*

when a gaze picks out
the shape of a deer
from the surrounding moor
it is as if something
within the deer
an embarrassment of content
had risen to the surface

*

from assumptions and preferences
from caution and suspicion
from constant self-reference
from easy recognition
the flight across the heather

*

daily island life
is to delay
to differ or defer
dally or vary
island life daily

*

present bewilderment tense
present translucent tense
present somnolent tense
present truculent tense
present effervescent tense

*

white-tailed eagle cruising
one ewe left to lamb

*

to hold boundaries
to guard wells
to inhabit trees
to scare crows
to kindle fire
to thicken cream
to keep from harm

*

peat bog yew bow
six thousand years
unslung