Vince's Glosa

Glose on “Porcupine”

A plump, dark lady                       

wearing a gown of nails—

white teeth tearing skin

from the thick tree.

Mary Oliver

You speak of her as

one that you would know

to understand her

to know her world and

grasp her place in it

it is not shady

this desire pure.

The natural world

the realm ungainly,

a plump, dark lady.

You respect the spirit

and you bless the creature

though she could be seen as

inconvenient by some.

I have caused harm to

her relations that pales

my soul and grieves my heart

to the point of weeping;

their defence always fails,

wearing a gown of nails.

Protecting the dog

or saving the trees

she and her kin are

seen as marauders,

as dangers well known.

The reason is thin

for the end of lives

they haven’t a word

for this kind of sin

white teeth tearing skin

So much harm I

I have caused

so I offer

penance for the—

the lives lost through

crimes by me.

I give thanks for

this poem that,

I can give plea

from the thick tree

Vincent Seeger