[Edith Södergran, also holding the leash]

[Edith Södergran . . . ]

Edith Södergran, also holding the leash

of a Karelian Bear Dog (“a hunter

of unyielding bravery and determination”)

wrote

“somewhere in space hangs my heart” and

“sparks fly from it, shaking the air.”

Yesterday I thought: I want a birch tree,

there, and saw three slim trunks in a clump, my only

deliberate thought: three white lines

vertical and the cats weaving in and around them

and the girl on the rock under the birches.

If a cat nests under your shed

is it your work to nudge and cajole

the offspring into domesticity,

if a wren nests in your yard, surely you will give it

a wide berth until the nestlings fledge. Planetary

your movements around them—

their incendiary hearts.