m review — poetry — inheritance — mckenzie river
Finalist in Poetry — 2006 M Review Writing Contest
Inheritance
by Mark Thalman
In Grandfather's shop, I search for a pair of gloves,
but none seem to match. Either the right or left
has been lost in an act of forgetfulness.
I find a few that could be sculptures Rodin would have admired:
a hand gripping an invisible hammer, another resting as in a lap,
one pointing like it knew the correct direction.
His daily sweat soaked into the leather
making the palms shiny as calluses, fingers ridged
until stretched like skin, worn again.
I try them on and my fingerprints embed
on top of his. My hands ready to rake twigs and cones
blown down around the cabin all winter.
Honorable Mention in Poetry — 2006 M Review Writing Contest
McKenzie River
by Mark Thalman
Pulling a few short strokes with the left oar,
I position myself between outcroppings of basalt,
tall and wide as two story houses,
and I am in the slick —
slide down the chute, plunging
into a hole so deep I strike bottom.
Wave higher than my head,
the raft rockets up and over.
Bucking white water,
the bow rises and falls, a seesaw.
Blasting through crest after crest,
spray explodes, raining shrapnel.
Wooden driftboats never make it through these rapids.
Boulders grind them to shreds.
If caught in a curl back, they capsize and spin
like a turning on a lathe.
I stair-step down through riffles
into a large turquoise pool
where salmon remain cool
during long sweltering afternoons.
When the resonance of crashing water begins to cease,
the boat floats slow as a willow leaf.
Kingfishers thread the air and dive.
Mossy stones slide by.
Lifting dripping oars, I settle back
into the easy pace of the current's momentum,
while the day slips past
like so much debris.
Mark Thalman of Oregon
"Inheritance" is an M Review 2006 Poetry Finalist and "McKenzie River" is an Honorable Mention in Poetry in the M Review 2006 Writing Contest.
My poetry has been widely published over the last three decades. I received my MFA from the University of Oregon and have been teaching English in the public schools for 24-years.
