Turtle Spirit Jam

Sometimes I Am Victorious and Even ...

Turtle Spirit Jam Tue, Dec 15, 2015 06:39:40 am
Sometimes I Am Victorious and Even Beautiful

Sometime I am victorious and even beautiful —
as when I go down to the pond in the half-light
and wade out not the black water,
where I unloop the taut lines from the willow stakes
and bend to the weight
and lift the trap from the water — not slowly and carefully
as in ordinary work, but hard and fast —

and open it.
and stare down and see the turtle’s food-wide mossy shell
and he sees me
and he thrashes

and I gaze into his pink throat and haul him higher
and he hisses, his eyes shine
and the tongue wags in the gaping, beak-shaped mouth
and I shake him from the trap, his thick head flashing,

and he swims away

and I close the trap with the heels of my boots, and fling it
into the bullbriar wracked and useless,

and the pink sun rises and sees me, by the black water,
smiling,
washing my hands.

- Mary Oliver