they call them skeins of geese
not me
~as i walked home tonight~
the walk started in daylight but i came home at dusk
their calling was overarched by first one coyote call, then a clan
just letting us all know coyote business was at hand.
neighbor dogs barked in return
huffing up big chests no doubt
but the geese continued on.
i saw them as i walked, after the woodcock flushed
flew across the meadow
to a spot suitable for a few more morsels
before darkness.
and then grapes and apples and scents of other
lesser fruits assaulted my nose.
and then there were seven flurrying ducks.
i knew, knew i would see a black bear tonight. deeply.
there was a tiny cottontail
more geese,
and then two whitetail flushed so close i could see their eyes
watched their enormous tails
bouncing like those balls on the films
to follow along with the words
when i was little
flee all the way across the big meadow, and then the ecotone, there
up in the sky
only geese.
in a, as a, V
V
i never noticed they were more connected to me
than i knew
my initial
has a mapping meaning for those
fall travelers.