Le Pont du Bois by Lesley Strutt

Le Pont du Bois, by Claude Monet, 1872.

Le Pont du Bois
 
It’s not the bridge
             but the body of water it crosses
             turbulent dangerous
 
It’s not the crossing over
             but the moment suspended in air
             above water swift cold
 
It’s not the bridge
             but the choice to trust that old wood
             to hold you while you step and step again
 
It’s not the choice
              it’s the pushing off, lifting the feet, the moment
              when you could fall but you don’t

Lesley Strutt

Lesley Strutt is a Merrickville poet, essayist, novelist, playwright, blogger and professor. Her ancestral roots are Irish and she is a descendant of the Bard of Bytown - William Pitman Lett. Her poetry has appeared in anthologies, journals and e-zines. She recently edited If There is Somewhere to Go, the third collection of open reading poems published in the Living Archives series of the Feminist Caucus of the League of Canadian Poets, for which Susan McMaster was consulting editor.