Three Sonnets

By James Galvin
Where I live      distance is the primal fact
The world is mostly      far away and small
Drifting along through cause and effect      like sleep
As when the distance      unlikeliest of stems
Bears the unlikely      blossom of the wind
Engendering our only weather      dry
Except in winter      pine trees live on snow
So greedy      pulling down these drifts that bury
The fences snap      the trunks of smaller trees
If the forest wants      to go somewhere it spreads
Like a prophecy      its snow before it
Technology      a distant windy cause
There is no philosophy      of death where I live
Only philosophies      of suffering

Copyright Credit: James Galvin, “Three Sonnets” from Resurrection Update: Collected Poems 1975-1997. Copyright © 1997 by James Galvin. Used by permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.
Source: Resurrection Update: Collected Poems 1975-1997 (Copper Canyon Press, 1997)