Sit quietly on the dock of the impoundment.
It is November and the land is flooded –
a watery stepping stone for birds
migrating across the Chesapeake Bay.
Lie back and let the sun warm your face.
Shut your eyes. Listen. You first hear a hush
you’ve never identified as sound before.
But today you do. Then, slowly
other sounds begin as the orchestra readies itself.
A concert master fine-tunes the bird
section composed of different
timbres, pitches, and calls.
Frogs lay the bass foundation while
the drone of flies creates a doppler effect
as they crescendo and decrescendo in your ears.
They are the hardest to wrestle into tune.
A lone bird screeches a startling cymbal crash.
The caw, caw of a disgruntled musician
accompanies the frog as she plops
into the water, taking an early break.
In the distance, a car door slams,
the plane flies overhead, a backing vehicle
beeps, the lone dog howls.
Forget these civilized sounds, I think and
return to the sun and sounds of the dock.
The breeze, an instrument playing so subtly
with sound and silence, wafts across my ears.
I smile at a creature sounding like a stick scraping a gourd.
I love these sounds, yet know so little about them.
I am simply glad the wild has welcomed me to
a land that is not mine, but might become,
with respect and love on my part, ours.
Note: An impoundment is s section of land managed with controlled water flow so as to provide a stopping point for migration birds as well as manage the land. It is where nature and humans meet on friendly turf.
This poem first appeared in Writing the Land: Virginia (2024).
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Nan Ottenritter has published chapbooks Eleanor, Speak (Finishing Line Press) and My Year 2023. She co-edited Discovery, Recovery: A Journey with Veterans (2023) and has been published in Artemis, Still Points Quarterly, Poetry Society of Virginia Anthologies, Dissent: an anthology to end war and capitalism (2023), and Writing the Land: Virginia (NatureCulture LLC). After her career in higher education, she can be found writing, fiddling, and enjoying the vibrant writing community in Richmond, VA.
