Michael Spring

SHEPHERDING

the white cow
wades in grass

the sheep move like fog
as the fog pulls itself loose
from the heather and distant
limestone scars

my son is walking in the field
shepherding

the moist ground grips
and sucks at his boots
as if it wants to hold him here

I think of the war
he has been called to
and I want to become the ground

the voices of chickens and goats
seep up into the wind

along with the muffled sounds
of stone upon stone

as I continue
building
the drystone wall

Date of Birth: July 26, 1963 Location: Corvallis, Oregon Occupation: Human services worker, Poetry editor Email: bluecrow04@cs.com Publications: Atlanta Review, Black Bear Review, Literary Potpourri, Midwest Quarterly, Pedestal, Pieraian Springs, Southern Ocean Review, Sulphur River Literary Review, Tule Review, Verse Libre Quarterly, etc. Books: Edge of Blue (chapbook), by Siski Press, 2002, Blue Crow (first book of poems), forthcoming by Lit Pot Press Awards: Fishtrap Writer-in-Residence, 2000

- May 2003 - The Runners In Any Other Sky My Night On Letterman The Museum of Holds Seoul - Midmorning If I Am Depressed Then Let Me Be Depressed. the other night bobby came to work in drag Finding God in a Deserted Parking Lot The Chain Bridge shepherding Between Seasons Maple Street Is Not The Road To Damascus