by Jami Macarty
*
standing in the trees the color of fatigues someone wholly addled
draws his pocket knife cuts cedar limb from cedar tree
whittles the bark from the bow
whittles wood to waster
*
where violets dress the undergrowth hell-tangle
Piper palms moss
her knees turned mauve
for a sunny noneconomical find: a four-leafed clover
*
verdant minutes unfold
under his addled gaze Piper twirls
the clover stem greening possibility
*
a suddenness dishevels her descends air around her
heavy with more and again
*
formerly leaf-hidden white-throated sparrows
flock off
do not look back or reverse path
*
one all-black afternoonbird calls: law law law
but the bird is only
is bird no protector’s there to hear
*
before the quarry wads up before the dredging
before the only bird stirs before this only bird’s
coughed fish returns dead marked by bites
Piper’s there when we and our friends swim the quarry in the luck of summer
Jami Macarty gratefully recognizes Native Nations of the West—especially the Coast Salish and Tohono O’odham—as the traditional and rightful owners of lands where she has the great privilege to live and learn—as a teacher at Simon Fraser University, an independent editor, and a writer of essays, reviews, and poetry. Jami is the author of The Minuses (Center for Literary Publishing, 2020), winner of the 2020 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award – Poetry Arizona, and three chapbooks, including Mind of Spring (Vallum, 2017), winner of the 2017 Vallum Chapbook Award. Jami’s writing has been honored by financial support from Arizona Commission on the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, and by the confidence of editors at literary magazines such as The Capilano Review, Colorado Review, Ocean State Review, Puerto del Sol, and the anthologies Cascadia Zen and Rumors Secrets & Lies, where Jami’s poems are forthcoming. More info: jamimacarty.com