Modus Operandi, Jul/Aug 1979

Herewith, the latest selection from dusted-off published poetry and short fiction, circa 1970s vintage and beyond....

Snowshoeing Mer Bleue

During the summer, a bird sanctuary
a swamp of murky water where
we see the silvery backs of catfish
lunging the surface or a crane
high-stepping among the reeds.
The bullrushes are brown and dry

and we walk the frozen surface
of the swamp then enter an alder
thicket, crossing tracks of hares
and grouse. There are droppings
everywhere, and the bark of a young

poplar has been gnawed by somnolent
animals. Hanging upside down
cross-bills bell the air with song;
the only birds we see this day.
Along the stand of yellow poplar

we fluff the snow, stop to watch
to listen as treetops dance in the wind
branches clacking. Fungus shelves
wild cherry trees in opaque colours
delicately gilled. the bolls of the

poplars are grey/white dappled
with black and they stand thick and
bristled against the backdrop of
white snow, grey sky, repeating
and repeating the motif.
there are other worlds hinted at

in the clearing where a hare-track
suddenly ends. Where, under a larch
we find clumps of downy feathers and
signs of a struggle. This is a
white swamp of contrasts, this place where
during the summer birds find sanctuary.

c. 1979 Rita Rosenfeld
published in Modus Operandi,Volume 10, No.7