The birds remember
last summer’s fires.
They dip lean wings
over shrinking reservoirs
to warn the fish.
When I turn on
the kitchen tap
only prayers flow.
—
Renata Golden is the author of Mountain Time: A Field Guide to Astonishment, published by CSU Press/UGA Press in March 2024. The book was a finalist for the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award and the River Teeth Nonfiction Award. Her prose and poetry have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. She earned an M.F.A. from the University of Houston. Originally from the South Side of Chicago, Renata lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
