Woodcut

If when I finally appear in woodcut print and you’re still
holding a match to find your way through the winter house
stop to watch how the lovely flicker animates a moment
of my life, and don’t think to fire my own legend;

A winter house, after all, is not a kiln but a place of warmth
that was shared by two, you and me, and a winter house
like this one is a grand colonial reminder that dark months
happen also, and have happened before.

And this woodcut of me: I prefer to be crossing a field
with dad’s old rifle heaved high on my shoulder as the dog
leads us to the rustic cabin below. Or, perhaps, there’s an
unseen meadowlark guiding I, the Naturalist, toward

a haven in the woods that is hinted at but not discovered.
or, perhaps it is simply I in all my puritanical seriousness
staring back, wondering whether a woodcut’s image will
last or, at last, be tossed on the fire to make warm again

the winter house. Well, either way, when the powerlines
succumb and you pass one cold night a woodcut print of
me, consider that the tree and I share something now too
and that trees fall, and I’ve known many trees.

Reviews

[W.k.kortas]

I like the antique/rustic allusions-- the notion of woodcuts, colonials,the old rifle, Puritanism-- and the imagery is very nicely drawn and quite visual. I found the lining odd, even off-putting; I found it a distraction as opposed to adding anything to the piece. There's a great deal to like here, but I found the construction of the piece diminishing the effect of it as a whole.

[Emily B]

wow, i love the old fashioned feelings . . . glad i finally got here

[emmajoy]

This is a long muttered breeze: the story unfolds, displays the tale of the writer, his life and love in their past and, methinks, the need to keep a record for all times. There are some beautiful phrases in this post but to be honest, having read it twice, I feel it would have a silkier flow if written in prose rather than five by four lines.

' I in all my puritanical seriousness
staring back, wondering whether a woodcut’s image will
last or, at last, be tossed on the fire to make warm again

the winter house.'