Untamed

four poems about four seasons

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Untamed

That horse is wild
during three seasons
but November brings

her back to stable.
Winter gives each
of us good reasons

to seek the warmth
of those who are warm
more often than we are.



*



Grey and Gray

By the time Spring arrives
in Seattle, it's already summer.

It's only June that wakes us
from winter's leaden slumber.



*



Lessons

Summer is hell
for the kid
who doesn't know

how to swim.
I was that child
who stood alone

on the shore
while the other
reservation children

became little gods
who, with epic power,
transformed river 

water into a baptism
that saved them
for a few hours.



*


Autumn

When we travel to those places
where leaves fall beautifully—

when we walk beneath the trees
that shrug their shoulders to drop

leaves on our shoulders—when
we dig our hands into the layers

of decaying leaves at the base 
of trees—when we carry one leaf

like it's one coffin—when arboretums 
become cemeteries—that's the season

when we know that decomposition is
the first and last breath—that's when

it's time to praise the death—the lovely
death—that begets our lovelier lives.