KIN
Wind Ridge Books, 2013
A collection of poems prompted by wildlife encountered while living in a log house at the edge of wilderness in a place he and Angela dubbed Carraig Binn (Irish for sweet rock) and informed by folklore and the natural history and environment of northern Vermont.
“…the ability to focus imagery, unite disparates, use language with grace and power…the astonishments which occur every page show clearly that Lusk is a poet of rare talent.”
—J.B. Pick, Markings (Scotland)
This book can be purchased at Phoenix Books on Amazon and at independent bookshops everywhere.
Selected Poem From KIN
Meditation
Where is the woman
who can live one year as a human
and the next as a bird?
Where is the woman today
who has suckled a bear?
In old Ireland Fergne the physician
could tell from a man’s face
what the illness was.
Just as he could tell from the smoke
that came from a house
how many were sick inside.
Boys and girls, we thought
we were the wolves’ children.
That licking each other’s faces
was food for our desires.
No one warned us not to go
into the fields of corn.
The corn would keep our secrets.
Who will tell us to be quiet
among the ignorant?
To cover our heads lest
we faint from truth.
Should we not ask such things?
We know that night is 11,400 miles wide.
Without bears or bats or fire,
what is there to worship?