From “Aase’s Death” [“I walk naturally”]

I walk naturally
through the white flutter
Apollo butterflies flicker
float, ease up
paper swallows
rustle weightlessly bouncing
in puffs of wind
through layers of air and moisture
in a blurry garden
The night owl sulks
beneath the chimney cowl
to avoid
torturous blackbirds
Loons call from down in the lake
This is
a remote archipelago
The piano has no gray keys
Nobody works
everyone dies

Structure

19 lines · 7 stanzas