Fenceline-Gogebic County, MI

Periphery 

Somehow

your fence was built 

even

before I became aware

of the logic

behind its 

purpose

and one day

the barbs

met my flesh

with uncanny stealth

found only in the 

rapture of one unaware.

Its sturdiness surpassed

only by the deep shadows

of the wire

in the snow

and memories of those days 

that now are what remain.

You on your side

and I here.

Robert Frost spoke of the

Mending Wall

but I think this evening

that this is not what he 

had in mind.

The snow drifts against the farm

like unfurled blankets

in clothesline wind

 burying all but
what lingers

in the knell.

K. Carter