Horses in the rain, broken trestles from a jack-knife rig.
Pinpoints on the map – Fortuna, Eureka, Arcata.
Mill workers hoisting rouge red timber, lumber, and the logs.
The Eel, the Mad, the Little and the Klamath rivers
you crisscross, traveling home.
Whoever sees this temple of trees is stunned.
In front of you the long-haul truck gears down.
In the backseat your girls soothe Angie, two.
Sometimes, flash of light, and you wear Polaroids to handle contrasts.
Grandfather logged here, his two-man cross-cut in the basement.
Whoever worked this rim of the continent was someone, too.
Salt and waves.
Fern-swathed coastline.
Rust red landscape you will pass through to get here.
Leaving has two interludes;
the girl saying good bye and the era of remembrance.
—
Denise Calvetti Michaels’ 2024 poems appear in Paterson Literary Review, Clamor, & Ovunque Siamo. Her poetry is anthologized in The Milk of Almonds (Feminist Press), Embroidered Stories (University Press Mississippi), and A Taste of Poetry (Walt Whitman Birthplace Association). North Creek, published by Cave Moon expresses gratitude for the 58-acre wetlands near where she received the MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics at the University of Washington Bothell and teaches Psychology at Cascadia College.
