|
Hard to image—
because
you live far from the coast—
the
way the islands drift in winter,
floating
fragments lining the horizon,
breaking
the skyline into mirage
upon an unseen
fog.
I’m
sure your eyes would disbelieve
this vision of
islands caught in suspense,
hanging
in mid-light above the sea,
slowly
separating, gently
expanding
until they splinter
and
float apart.
I
want to take you sailing there,
across the channel
to phantom shores,
where the hard-packed
soil feels
just
like homeland, dusty and solid
despite
the illusion,
waiting
like a dream.
—Abigail Brandt
from The
Geography of Home:
California ’s Poetry of Place
edited by Christopher Buckley
and Gary Young
Heyday Books, 1999 |
