Doug Roy, Fox and Owl, Cut Paper
Unitary
Growing up I thought them all
one single thing,
bug-eyed and lace-winged casting off
their carapaces, slightly scary
where they climbed our backyard oak,
and in the din of summer afternoons or off-years
when even bigger swarms would fill the trees
I was satisfied and smug
to correct those of lesser knowledge, “No,
those are not locusts!”
Until this year my niece remarks, “In Montana
I don’t think we have cicadas,”
and so we crack the books:
To discover there are differences
between things is suddenly to notice
all of them.
So now a single summer song
resolves itself into polyphony,
not just a dozen different souls
in counterpoint
but almost that many dialects
and harmonies and none of lesser worth.
In all this green earth no unitary creature
but individuals uncountable — how can I ever
hope to stretch
my love to hold them all?
___________
Bill Griffin