nature is cowardly [2010]

an unfamiliar man knows that

despite all uncertainties

a fear must be forged

of

the boughs of the tree

and the barking dog

and the outstretched landscape of the world

this creates a fracture

in the contemporary facade

which

offers no understanding

but reveals a certain hypocrisy

only his most intimate other

and his two rabbit companions

might properly discern this enthusiasm

and

understand what is being confessed

when he and his nature

face that which is most cowardly

he does not often find inspiration

when there is not something else 

he should be doing

meaning

if his mind is not otherwise engaged

he has no poetic process

               (“I have not     
               yet     

               resigned myself to this”)