In or on the water of the pond
shadows on
the water what Traherne saw as a child in wonder
shadows
our second selves
looking down at the pond on a mid-summer morning
the surface of the water surfaced with a golden/green film
shadows of lindens on the surface
shadows
and wonderful no less wonderful or more
wonderful still for having nothing to do with your selves or mine.
From John Taggart's forthcoming book "Pastorelles,"
to be published by Flood Editions of Chicago. A critic as well as
a poet, he is the author most recently of Loop, Prompted, Standing
Wave, Tauler Sentences, Aeschuylus: Fragments, Remaining in Light,
and Songs of Degrees: Essays on Contemporary Poetry & Poetics.
He is professor of English and director of the interdisciplinary
arts program at Shippensberg University in Pennsylvania
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