ON JANUARY'S CIRCLE

Contradicted by the cold
beneath the rough rocks
along the seaweed
checking out my kayak
in middle of the morning
getting my bird wings
for a visit from the South
with my cousin Lee
returning from the Gallapagos
to view the fauna and turtles
recording her misgivings
of the plane as she arrived
in a heart of personal equations
of likely survival
wishing her winter visit
to a poet's reading was an occasion
in a split obligation
at her sudden arrival
bringing me a poster
of Nabokov,almost disfigured
she found in a yard sale
on her travels
and a shattered rose flowerpot
of my great aunt.