What Can Be Caught
     A Sequence

 by Byron Hoot

          1

I heard a sound
thought deer
saw chipmunk
it happens
all the time 

         2

how blurred my vision
is looking into the hillsides
of late winter 
 
        3
thought I saw a raven
flying towards me,
saw nothing.  I can no
longer tell the difference
between the real
and the imagined
or what holds the most meaning
 
        4
sometimes experience needs
no pedagogy
 
        5
nothing’s the same
one day to the next
even if it appears so
 
        6
the solitary pine cone
at the end of the branch
caught my eye

        7

I need the wind
and the hunt to mix
the past and future
what has been and
what may or may not be       

       8

I saw the large oak leaf
that was making the sound
of the footsteps of a deer
fall.  Now, what will I hear?

       9

the leaves fall
one by one.
I think bear,
deer -- neither one

       10

deer? I ask myself
thinking I hear footsteps.
it is the rain. a near seduction makes me smile,
lets me know
how willing
I am to
               surrender 

        11

I'm looking for the yellow maple
I saw by the shore of the lake
yesterday. I thought it might
have followed me home to greet
me in the morning

        12

I say your name silently
so no one will hear how often I say it