Dragonfly
Bear ponders a dragonfly
landing lightly on his kayak.
“Am I not deserving your touch?”
Summer sleeps me lazily in this cocoon of plastic,
afraid to disrupt lilies and turtles from temporary perches.
My eyes lose most of what surrounds me—
insects, birds, frogs, jumping fish, menagerie clouds.
Your thousand-eye glance appears passive;
you alight from my kayak paddle,
seeing direction and winged prey in multitudes.
Dragonfly regards the world
with her compound eyes,
sees more of me than I know myself,
takes flight from the slipper of day
in late afternoon light.
Jason Grundstrom-Whitney’s poetry has appeared in 3 Nations Anthology: Native, Canadian, & New England Writers and in the Underground Writers Association’s Anthology of Maine Poets. The band Osha Root recently produced a CD featuring his music and poetry. Jason has spent a lifetime working on Native American Rights, Sexual Assault, and Domestic Violence survival, Hospice and end of life care, homeless and environmental issues, and alternative medicine practice, A Bear Clan member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Jason studied with native teachers and many others while he hitch-hiked across America for two and a half years. Jason is a father, grandfather, and husband, and he has been in recovery for 37 years.