Three poems for LandLocked

1.

Citations: acreage, poised to light. To disembark,

facts furled in clothing, summer sun and fields.

This shape was mostly paper,

held on either side

by land and whiteness, Hogback Ridge. I can’t keep track

of all the names.

A science fiction. The Oregon Trail a chaperone,

dusty named and bare.

2.

Such faith, to amble westward.

A matter of perspective. What thirsty river, stirred.

The textual surface. Free state. When all of this

was done.

To reach, again, into the water. The sun,

a shadow. Such

a magnificent courier.

3.

I have forgotten how to write. I related to blue

once all the colours had left. A question

of settlement. What do you mean

when you say North? Your Canadian neighbours,

bewildered. Thundersnow, the Polar Vortex. It looks

like home. We reach down into.