Poetry – Issue 4 | April 2009
Two poems by Lily Iona MacKenzie
I Try To Seize the Past
few days on these dunes
in language. The meadows’
golden grass borders
the sea, ocean spinning
itself and reflecting. Everything
filled with rectitude, birds
hovering over prey, knowing
exactly when to dive, disappearing
into tall grass. So much
out of sight, the deer
avatars, heads bobbing
in and out of view.
A brown rabbit streaks
past. Seals frolic in white
surf, heads wreathed
in seaweed. Stars
stare out of black and form
familiar patterns, milky way
a haze of subdued
light, big and little
dipper dipping into ink
black night. Mars
pulses and flexes
its muscles, carrying a torch
for the moon and challenging
her glow. If only all life
could be caught in words,
turned over and over until
they gleam, giving the illusion
of permanence.
About the author
A Canadian by birth, Lily Iona MacKenzie lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where she teaches writing at the University of San Francisco. Her work has been published in numerous venues, including The Malahat Review, Other Voices, and The Denver Post. Her interviews with Brenda Hillman appear in Indiana Review and Berkeley Poetry Review.
Next in Poetry: Two Poems by Michael Bazzett
Previously in Poetry: Four poems by Suzanne Parker
