Welcome Norah

you are an armful Norah 

in your new sleeper 

your small arms crossed 

one hand against soft soft cheek 

eyes closed 

head in the crook of father’s giant arm

little mouth so perfect 

your breath a song of sighs 

this moment in the first days 

of life 

already a gift to this tuneless and jangled world 

little do you know 

that we listen to those sweet breaths 

and drop our shoulders 

and lift up our own harmony 

you are an armful

October

there is a certain 

brittle dryness 

on the edge of the page 

with the poem of today 

written in dark blood 

each word cutting deeper 

into the turn of the year 

oh I fear this loss 

of light and heat and colour and 

oh I hang on to the

constant closeness within 

a life of hearts ever flowering 

my fingers touch the page 

and savour the resilient delicacy

spirit sands

they say first peoples came to these 

dunes 

to find the spirit 

hills of sand to the near horizon 

no shade from withering sun 

and here we are walking on uneven trail 

climbing loose sand to see 

this Manitoba desert 

water bottles  in hand 

they say don’t stray from path 

as this place was used for during the war 

and there might be live explosives still lying here or there 

so we keep to the marked places 

and gaze in wonder at autumn colours 

playing in this Assiniboine valley 

as a spirit of peace wafts down

second summer in Landmark

shadow of the house

edges across green grass lawn

receding eastward