Poetry by ex-Hurtwood Cohen Rowland

Like a Lizard Learning to Write

One foot sprawls so the other

can send itself back

darting that way at first as

a lunge for a kiss

but on hurried return

it dislikes its own action

so recent and dully prepared

but looking behind it sees

its primary position

it does not know where

its foot is placed if not

there, the lizard

recoils in fear

---

surveyance

a small squirrel surveys what curls around it

unfurling its tail body as it extends its gaze further afield

tercets of fur come apart to distinguish themselves

then flex into one fibre, its long paws laden on the dirt

its short paws suspended like a penny waiting to drop

and loose an echo on a metal chamber

it breathes with caution and measures its paces

to the north end of a dainty branch

balancing on the threat of a fall

and resolving itself once it has balanced too

the reward for its steady hand and patient mind

the need to see itself through to the next morning succumbed to

it furls in against the world

much less stressed on no appetite and fat to fend off the cold

its eyes peep through its fur, brushed with its lashes

to watch the clouds turn east of the river