It rained again last night,
basting the low-lying corner
of the wildflower garden,
flooding the sodden edges
of Pleasant Run Creek,
the wetland link between land
and water, nature’s sieve,
filtering pollutants, bathing
the marshy prairie potholes
at the broad end of the zone.
There, the riparian grasses sway,
cattails wave, swamp mallow
and swamp rose blush to life,
fill in the blanks in wet meadows,
stir in the wind beside the stream,
announcing, for those who know
how to listen, we are the kidneys
of the earth, our toil a hymn
of praise and perfect choreography:
water, soil, vegetation, a harmony
of quiet voices humming as we work.
This poem first appeared in Embracing Wetlands Last (Exit Press, 2024).
—
Janet E. Irvin is an educator, poet, and the author of seven mystery/thriller novels under the name J.E. Irvin. Her poems have appeared in Hawaii Pacific Review, Creosote, The Raven’s Perch, and Sky Island Journal. A member of the Greenville Poets, Sisters in Crime, and Buckeye Crime Writers, Irvin resides in southwest Ohio on the edge of a nature park which serves as inspiration for her work.
