it goes away
a garden behind a house
smelling the mint
a bench in a clearing
feeling the sun
it goes away
a long-legged daughter on the grass
watching her dance
a son swaying in the willow
listening to him laugh
it goes away
a hand tracing your face
tasting its salt
a body asleep beside you
feeling her breath
it goes away
a black dog at your door
smelling its heat
a white horse in your dream
listening to the hooves
it goes away
Patrick Friesen
From carrying the shadow
Beach Holme Publishing, Vancouver: 1999
mirabile dictu
Feminism, Poetry, Images, Politics
mirabile dictu 
Oh my gosh, I’m crying. Seriously. It takes a lot to make me bawl out loud, but this poem did. So beautiful. And so true. I wish it didn’t have to go away. Ever. But it goes away. This is spectacular. Thank you again. You are awesome.
Yes, isn’t it amazing? Patrick is my “mentor”, but somehow I’d managed to miss this 1999 collection. And all the poems in “carrying the shadow” are amazing. So few words, such simple words. And yet the rythym, the repetition, the use of just those words, carries me away to where he means to go. Even the title of the collection: “carrying the shadow” is so evocative and refers us to something we all know.
For various reasons, I’ve had a lot of difficulty writing my own poetry lately. But I wrote one in the shadow of this poem, and a few others.
Thanks Julie, but it’s not me who is amazing! It’s the poets I love.