Things we know

by Dave Margoshes

Everybody knows the man in the moon
is blue cheese, that dogs keep the sun at bay
in winter, that fireflies are the souls
of the dearly departed, flickering through
the transparent evening for honey. We know
the danger of the frozen swing to the tongue,
the heartbreak of the grosbeak legging it north
in early spring drunk on forgotten apples, we’ve all
heard our mothers’ admonitions
about clean underwear and dirty thoughts, there’s
no shortage of certainty and conviction. Still,
when you turn to me as you do now, I hesitate,
all that gossamer wisdom no help at all,
no damned help at all.

###
Dave Margoshes is a Saskatchewan writer whose stories and poems have appeared widely in Canadian literary magazines and anthologies. He’s published over a dozen books, including five collections of poetry  the most recent, Dimensions of an Orchard, won the Anne Szumigalski Poetry Prize at the 2010 Saskatchewan Book Awards. His new story collection, A Book of Great Worth, is being published in April 2012.