Summary

In "Walking in the Madman's Wood," as the speaker walks through the forest, she imagines a madman traversing the same terrain, leaving a stone as if to claim a piece of moss. Every trail marker the speaker sees is a similar attempt to own the land. She considers the meaning of words. Observing other plants, she wonders what it would be like to get lost here.

In "Feather," the speaker discovers a pile of feathers, considering the bird they might have come from. She converts a feather into a quill, and writes a poem. She tells the bird she is using its death for poetry.

In "Fatal Light Awareness," a bird flies into the speaker’s window and dies. She blames herself for not erecting the lattice, and protecting the bird from its reflection. She names other human activities that endanger birds. Birds cannot...