by Judith Janoo

Edge of the Gorge        
           Man is by nature a political animal —Aristotle

Judith at Barton Public Library, 2018

Canyons between us we can’t understand.                                         

Tell me stranger at this political divide,

what thresholds you failed to cross,

what you lost, that there’s more

than nothing between us.

Freedom of thought, soft as Lambs-ear,

cashmere, fragrant as thyme-walked

ground. Somewhere between love & hate,

atheist & saint. Even Tolstoy wrote first of war.

Peace falls like spring rain, an eagle feather.

Tell me neighbor of thresholds you failed

to cross, what you lost, that there’s more

than nothing between us.

“Can you divide this apple into three halves?”

your daughter asked, feeding other hungry mouths

as she opened hers. Division as portioning.

Peace drops like a whisper between prairie warbler

and lark bunting, one feeder, tern and gull, one shore,

low tide and high. Over mountains, plains, drop

all your thoughts, friend, until edges give way, tell me

of thresholds you failed to cross, what you lost,

that there’s more than nothing between us. I’m wary

watching the broad-winged hawk circle, dive & rise.

Let stones shake from the ground up.

I want to feel the lift of your breath

on my cheek as you speak.

                                  ~  Judith Janoo