The Clearing

The sunbox lies in pieces,

its strips of aluminum foil

flaking away to the wind,

tanning platform broken up

for kindling. Planted grass

sprouts where the path once

sharply turned to the left

circumventing underbrush,

there the man (a boy then)

stumbled on beauty’s wrath:

pale sisters yelling him off,

scrambling for clothes to cover.

All has been cleared, thick

cat briar raked into piles

and set ablaze, invincible

ailanthus stacked for dump.

All’s clear and calm save

his childhood rushing head-

long through tearing thickets,

and the sisters, barely glimpsed

against reflective flashing,

laughing after him, then

lying back to catch

all the sullen autumn sun they can.

Copyright Credit: Poem copyright ©2006 by Carl Little and reprinted from Ocean Drinker: New and Selected Poems, Deerbrook Editions, 2006, by permission of Carl Little and the publisher.