2014 Autumn Issue

12

photo-by-richard-hearn

richard hearn

September

One by one, the washes dry,
grasses brown in the cut.
Now the animals come down from the hills
in search of water.

My dog, too,
running behind me, running in front,
wants to drink.

So we go down.

And there below,
under shale and sandstone cliffs, under the still green
canopy of ash and beech,
under oaks, in a tangle of windfall trees

and brush and broken cobbles,
we find pools, puddles, traces of water.

My puppy sinks
as low as he can
in the deepest water.

He drinks without bending his head.

~ Daniel Bellinger

RIVER

Spirit of mist
hovering over
my early morning Cuyahoga River,
magic wake-up
to the day

Water sedate,
mostly

Introspective, collective

The many times of the river
experiences reflected in the
ornaments of mind

Leaves….

Stems up like helms
for awareness to steer
down the current

The river–as it is–
a calibration point
for eyes
to add to the collection
of my recollection

~ Lady

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