The Determinations of the Scene

Pattiann Rogers

Consider one born in the desert,
How he must see his sorrow rise
In the semblance of the yucca spreading
Its thorn-covered leaves in every direction,
Pricking clear to the ends
Of his fingers. He recognizes it
And deals with it thus. He learns to ponder
Like the reptile, in a statuesque quiet
Of the mind, to move on the barest
Of essentials, to solve problems after the manner
Of the twisted mesquite sustaining itself.
He puts edges to the nouns of his statements,
Coping the distinct lines of the canyon in shadow
And establishes cool niches out of the sun
In every part of his dogma. He understands
His ecstacy in terms of fluidity, high spring water
In motion through the arroyo.

That one born in the forest, growing up
With canopies, must seek to secure coverings
For all of his theories. He blesses trees
And boulders, the solid and barely altered.
He is biased in terms of stable growth vertically.
And doesn't he picture his thoughts springing
From moss and decay, from the white sponge
Of fungus and porous toadstools blending?
He is shaped by the fecund and the damp,
His fertile identifications being with humus
And the aroma of rain on the deepening
Forest floor. Seeing the sky only in pieces
Of light, his widest definition must be modeled
After the clearing hemmed in by trees.

On the plains, in motion with constant
Grasses, how does one perceive sight
When vision is limited only by its own weakness?
How does one construct when the infinite flat disc

Is the basis for all abstractions?
Except by expanding the soul, how should one master
A sky always visible in its entirety?

And consider the child raised near the sea, impinged
Upon constantly by the surf rising in swells,
Breaking itself to permanent particles of mist
Over the cliffs. Did you really think
That the constant commotion of all that fury
Would mean nothing in the formation of the vocabulary
Which he chooses to assign to God?
The surge, the explosion must constitute
The underlying dominion unacknowledged
In his approach to the cosmos.

Susceptible senses. We mustn't forget to inquire.
Against what kinds of threats must the psyche
Of the Arctic child protect itself in sleep?