{"id":9035,"date":"2020-10-11T12:26:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T17:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/?p=9035"},"modified":"2021-02-08T08:59:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T14:59:00","slug":"scouring-the-waters-two-poems-by-john-grey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/scouring-the-waters-two-poems-by-john-grey\/","title":{"rendered":"Scouring the Waters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two Poems by John Grey<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Cranes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cranes arrive at the lake.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s winter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These slick birds beat back the wind<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with folded feathers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their elegance <\/p>\n\n\n\n

is up for useful things: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

digging in the mud, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

scouring the waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bent like question marks,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

they nod heads together and gossip:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

migration tales,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the wisdom of the egg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A gull offers a shrieking oratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cranes dip and sip,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

find peace with their thirst and hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One stands on a solitary leg,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

holds ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the still<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is never perfectly still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its head retreats<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from a work of art<\/p>\n\n\n\n

into its own invention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knees lock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neck stiffens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beak awaits instructions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from the eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another dances, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

splashes in the icy water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rituals come easy to its body type. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple fly up to the trees, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

prepare their nightly roost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cranes don’t dispute their right to be here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They do not partition a place in their hearts for nature,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

do not worry if this or that one<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is the penultimate bird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cranes are not me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They would never watch cranes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Faith<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

A Boy and<\/strong>
a Stream<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Thin stream skirts the foothills,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

an indigent third cousin. to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the distant river that sends it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

liquid care packages,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that swift, swarming current<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a great civilization<\/p>\n\n\n\n

compared to this simple watery village<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of shallow water<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and glistening gray stones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can stretch and step across it,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

come cheek to surface<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with its threadbare,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

native collection of life forms\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

squirming tadpoles,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

buzzing blue-green dragonflies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one else comes here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is my private collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the books on my bedroom shelves,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can open up a gleaming page<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of nature any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is small enough to encompass<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and yet the seeds of everything<\/p>\n\n\n\n

larger than itself are here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a mighty river in its own mind<\/p>\n\n\n\n

like I am a man in mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I break the surface with my fingers <\/p>\n\n\n\n

send gentle ripples in all directions. That’s how it begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Grey is an Australian poet and a U.S. resident. He recently published in Soundings East<\/em>, Dalhousie Review<\/em> and Connecticut River Review<\/em>, and contributes to FaithHopeandFiction.com. His latest book is Leaves on Pages.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two Poems by John Grey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nScouring the Waters | Faith Hope & Fiction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/scouring-the-waters-two-poems-by-john-grey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scouring the 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