From Fieldbook series

1
Early in the field—
………….I trace horizon where field makes horizon

gnashed with earth, scavenge for pieces in rubble

a spiral piece

breaks underfoot
(I look underfoot)
piece knaps to flint-point

fact? I found

Bird in eye-sight, in field

cannot imagine what bird sees
(I mark this in the field book)

Storm returns only to return

overhead

Now is what I name:
……….cloud-edge,
……….flint-knap
……….palm

(Look, while I collect)

rubble beginning in dampness,
field can hardly be seen by dim-light

when I try to finish
my collecting

and I cannot

2
He waited a day by river-edge
sifting the

Given pieces—

river unearthed
the river unearths
the river unearthing

water weathered sandstone
water cooled wrists
river water
filled throat

rocks in river eddy spiral
The day collected

here, half re-collects
in these pieces:

River-boat approached
the delta field
(mark the sail-motion in field book)

He traded with strangers
parchment for a box filled with daylight

He records:
……….sulfur on hands
……….folded parchment
……….3 stones

He wrote by daylight
and what he wrote he put in this box

Grant Souders is currently earning a B.A. in Creative Writing at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. A few of his poems have appeared in A Literary Journal.