EDGE

I’ve come to the edge of a forest that is capable of anything

wolves will not enter
but become ground beetles

and leave
this place is a turning point

the forest has lips and eyes and rivers

they all stop and wait

beneath me
worms turn the earth on its axis.

*

Taken from Don Domanski’s Selected Poems 1975-2021, recently published by Corbel Stone Press on what would have been the late poet’s 71st birthday.

Perhaps little-known in the UK, Don Domanski’s work – from the short, vivid lines of his early career to the long, expansive poems of his later years – was deeply engaged with the natural world, and often focused on the small and overlooked life beneath our feet.

Selected Poems is published in a beautiful hardcover edition of just 216 copies, with a midnight blue cover and metallic blue ‘Pleiades’ artwork, and is available to buy here. All profits from the book’s sale will be donated to the poet’s widow.