Ripple and Poplar – a poem by Ruth Holzer

Ripple and Poplar

A shining ripple,
lighter than lace,
trickles over the breast
of the great blue heron.

A declining ray of sun
illuminates a ragged 
tulip poplar leaf,
picking out

its map of veins:
another tree, slowly
emerging to stand
before the opened eye.

Ruth Holzer’s poems have appeared in Southern Poetry Review, Connecticut River Review, Slant, Blue Unicorn and THEMA, and in other journals and anthologies the U.S. and abroad. A multiple Pushcart Prize nominee, she is the author of five chapbooks, most recently A Face in the Crowd (Kelsay Books, 2019) and Why We’re Here (Presa Press, 2019).