“Life of the Mind (Night)” [by Stephanie Bolster]

Yes, this vessel outstreams fate.

This might be the Nile or another mouth.

We gather on the deck between above and
under.

All the unimagined constellations.

The steamer forges.

Blue goes the owl and the ticking bats.

Churning where the river meets the sea.

The votive dragon, phoenix stitched of silk
and not of fire on the water.

The water locomotive.

And the dog star and the Isle of Dogs.

And heaven upon the waters.

Stephanie Bolster edited The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2008 (Molly Peacock, series editor).
This poem was published in Jacket
(www.jacketmagazine.com)– #34, Autumn 2007 (Australia), the poem will appear in Stephanie Bolster's new book, A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth, due out from Brick Books in 2011.