Ken Cathers

Canada geese and the long way home

are they ever lost
confused

fly north in winter
mistake a frozen road
for a hidden lake

a windowed image
for the sky?

how easy it must be
to rise up
and leave the cold

follow some unseen path
the faint pull
of the earth turning.

how I envy
that certainty

know how dazed
I would be

confused by shifting clouds
devious wind

spiral into darkness
at the first sign of doubt.

without their unwavering
compass

I would find a way
to follow the wrong star home

discover hidden valleys
unnamed rivers

wake to the sound
of wings at first light

glide in low
through the trees

stay lost forever.

Ken Cathers has a B.A. from the University of Victoria and a M.A. from York University in Toronto. He has just published his eighth book of poetry entitled Home Town with Impspired Press in England. He has also recently published two chapbooks, one entitled Kiefer by Broken Press and the other entitled Legoland Noir by Block Party Press. His work has appeared in publications from Canada, the United States, Australia, Ireland, England, India, Hong Kong and Africa. Some of his recent work has appeared in Plato’s Cave, The McGuffin, Acta Victoriana, Zoetic Press, Wild Words and The Blue Unicorn.