On the Brink of Tomorrow Howden Pond, Hamlin NY Leaning on my cherry-switch walking stick, looking beyond yellow reeds and pearly everlastings, the pond’s depth has shrunk, revealing its puckered banks where belly tracks of beavers have worn a path to their estate of young poplars that satisfy their hunger, reducing trunks to pointed stakes; and at the water’s edge, floating among the reeds, a few stripped branches wait to be towed to the old den’s interior. Yet today, construction isn’t anything more than the wind’s ruffling of yellow leaves and the pond’s inky surface. I am not a reflection here— not a striking shadow, ready to prove this morning’s geometry— only a set of eyes, wanting to travel without leaving home— wanting to be standing here, tomorrow.
M.J. Iuppa’s fourth poetry collection is This Thirst (Kelsay Books, 2017). For the past 32 years, she has lived on a small farm near the shores of Lake Ontario. Check out her blog: mjiuppa.blogspot.com for her musings on writing, sustainability & life’s stew.
Amethyst Review 