January 2017
Frederick Wilbur
fcwilbur@verizon.net
fcwilbur@verizon.net
I was brought up and still live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia so I rely on imagery derived from the natural landscape to explore human relationships. My wife, Elizabeth, and I have two daughters and three grandchildren. I have been an architectural woodcarver for over 35 years and have written numerous articles and three books on the subject. My poetry has appeared in Shenandoah, Green Mountains Review, The Lyric, The South Carolina Review, Southern Poetry Review, and others.
The Reprieve
for Tommy
With the strength of miracle,
my hands resuscitate the life of the tree
carving flowers and birds,
the grainy hopes found there.
Gouges glide with steely gleam,
sculpting shadows, keen whispering unseen.
Wood chips, like the leaves they imitate,
float to the heart-pine floor
and underfoot, they drift into corners
in an anonymous sacrifice to art.
But today my winged vision has flown
and I struggle with changing light,
the anxious espionage of stormy figure,
knots and splits. I cannot blame tools for misbehaving
in my self-doubt. I am unaware of him entering,
finding the broom and gathering deciduous days
toward the door—nothing I have taught him—
but what comes naturally, the practical, impatient, wisdom of the young.
for Tommy
With the strength of miracle,
my hands resuscitate the life of the tree
carving flowers and birds,
the grainy hopes found there.
Gouges glide with steely gleam,
sculpting shadows, keen whispering unseen.
Wood chips, like the leaves they imitate,
float to the heart-pine floor
and underfoot, they drift into corners
in an anonymous sacrifice to art.
But today my winged vision has flown
and I struggle with changing light,
the anxious espionage of stormy figure,
knots and splits. I cannot blame tools for misbehaving
in my self-doubt. I am unaware of him entering,
finding the broom and gathering deciduous days
toward the door—nothing I have taught him—
but what comes naturally, the practical, impatient, wisdom of the young.
©2016 Frederick Wilbur
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