Michael P. McManus
Watcher

for Wallace Stevens

A black bird sits in a bare tree,
or does the bare tree sit within the black bird,
or is winter repeating itself in the wind’s turning
through a bare tree and a black bird?

Was it true that the black bird moved a bit,
or was it my index finger that moved
the wind that moved the branch a bit,
or did the wind, tree, and bird move as one?

The black bird flies from the bare tree,
or does the bare tree fall from the black bird,
or am I the casual glance from a stranger,
recalling one moment that never occurred?

<< return to the Table of Contents for New Series #2: Winter 2008, Volume 1 Number 2