Author: Tom D'Evelyn

Tom D'Evelyn is a private editor and writing tutor in Cranston RI and, thanks to the web, across the US and in the UK. He can be reached at tom.develyn@comcast.net. D'Evelyn has a PhD in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley. Before retiring he held positions at The Christian Science Monitor, Harvard University Press, Boston University and Brown University. He ran a literary agency for ten years, publishing books by Leonard Nathan and Arthur Quinn, among others. Before moving to Portland OR he was managing editor at Single Island Press, Portsmouth NH. He blogs at http://tdevelyn.com and other sites.

NEAR PROVIDENCE 11/18/20

It was I pulled from

the cold as the tern broke through.

I saw it coming,

cruising and spindling

above the cove, shouldering

the light as it crashed

through and rose instant-

ly. The beauty of being

pulled into the light.

NEAR PROVIDENCE 11/17/20

I did not ask for

it, I’ll take it, not as sign

of anything grand,

the cloud doubled in

the dark Bay waters, brighter

there than in the sky,

the empty mind re-

minded how ordinary

such transformation.

NEAR PROVIDENCE 11/15/20

I heard it before

I saw it, two swans rising

into the gray, a

rush, a gush of air

as the great white wings spread out

and up and down and

up, water falling.

I had been missing you and

for a time the void

of your death filled with

tremendous white confusion

in the empty cove.

And that arrest keeps

me moving through the winter’s

dark, open spaces.

NEAR PROVIDENCE 11/14/20

It begins to rain.

The luminous autumn clouds

over the water

drain of light. I wave

to the old woman who minds

the plantings and paths,

though as Buson says,

I’d rather end the year with

Basho on the road.

NEAR PROVIDENCE 11/13/20

It gets dark early

so I leave early to see

the swans in the cove.

This is new for me.

I’ve loved and been loved and no

longer seek the one.

There are many paths

to being, being has many

names, still I love to

see these two swans in

the gloaming under the pier

being together.

NEAR PROVIDENCE 11/12/20

When it snows the geese

leave woods for open waters.

Their obstinate stares!

Simple minded, I

recognize myself when they stop

me on winter walks.

What keeps me out in the cold?

The open waters.

NEAR PROVIDENCE 11/11/20

The way around the

cove is muffled in red leaves.

Old people walking

nod at invasive

rough-neck swans and say hi to

each other for once.

To everything

a season. I am new to

my own otherness.

NEAR PROVIDENCE 11/9/20

The estuary.

Two swans in the yellowing

grass. Oblivion

of all the blood spilled

in the past spills through again.

Do not say progress

on the breakwater.

Say: as it grows colder it’s

good to see the swans.