Such a joy to hear this sung by the marvellous Persephone Singers. I'll always be so grateful to Whitehorse Community Choir and Stephen Chatman for the honour of having my poem set to music. Here's the text of the poem, Night Vision, which is published in my collection If There Were Roads (Turnstone Press). Night Vision Through the back gate, two pairs of eyes in the flashlight, fox-height, not coyote, between spruces, side by side, still as stars. Hand on the dog’s back. Let’s not. Coyote-height, not fox. Back through the gate, round the road to the woods. Two pairs of eyes electric in the flashlight, fox-height, or coyote. We’ve all shifted, halted in a different triangulation. Invisible creatures standing on leaves and needles. The dog’s eyes are on me. Will we walk tonight between the wide eyes of boreal creatures? Not coyotes, not foxes, not wolves. (copyright Joanna Lilley)
Such a joy to hear this sung by the marvellous Persephone Singers. I'll always be so grateful to Whitehorse Community Choir and Stephen Chatman for the honour of having my poem set to music. Here's the text of the poem, Night Vision, which is published in my collection If There Were Roads (Turnstone Press).
Night Vision
Through the back gate,
two pairs of eyes in the flashlight,
fox-height, not coyote,
between spruces, side by side,
still as stars. Hand on
the dog’s back. Let’s not.
Coyote-height, not fox.
Back through the gate,
round the road to the woods.
Two pairs of eyes electric
in the flashlight,
fox-height, or coyote.
We’ve all shifted, halted
in a different triangulation.
Invisible creatures standing
on leaves and needles.
The dog’s eyes are on me.
Will we walk tonight
between the wide eyes
of boreal creatures? Not
coyotes, not foxes, not wolves.
(copyright Joanna Lilley)