Wait for morning’s epiphany
gowned in mist,
hummocks and woody
shrubs ablaze in heat.
Stoop and gather marsh grass
rippled like blown glass
dipped in a wind rush.
If cattails tickle your legs,
don’t flinch.
Keep searching for wild rice,
floral heads lifting
out of slow-flowing
headwaters, sacred to the touch.
Canoe into a tapestry of plants.
Shake the grain heads
until legendary seeds fill your lap
with Indian lore,
perch and chain pickerel
circling the boat. Imagine
hunger growing sharp
as the spear
you thrust into a migratory bass,
silvery, stream-lined
like an inlet.
Hop ashore and gather blueberries,
flared indigo crowns
ripe with nectar
to embellish your feast.
Now rub together two sticks.
Flare a pile
of hardwood on shore’s edge.
In a make-do skillet,
sizzle rice and fish.
Nothing cooks up like this—
not a plate of clams,
nor a showy display
of oysters plumed with rosemary.
As you sip day’s ambrosia,
bow your head
and applaud the wetlands’
bounty in the lush, moist
veins of earth.
—
Dr. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Virginia Poet Laureate Emerita, has co-edited four anthologies, co-authored a poem-play, and published nine poetry books, including The Embrace: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, winner of the international Art in Literature: The Mary Lynn Kotz Award. Her poems appear in numerous journals, including Nimrod, Prairie Schooner, Mid-American Review, and Best of Literary Journals.
