~ Delta Poetry Review ~

A Bygone Sight

A bygone sight
‘neath shady eaves
late summery light
dapples through palm leaves

In a nearby lea
and brackish streams
wildlife play
and sea life teams

The backwater bayou
flows by slow,
fat as roux
wat’ry realms below

Choctaw dugouts
once slip’d on by;
Creole canoes
once casted fly

In a sleepy stream
black water pools
Blue herons feast
‘til they’re full

The crawdads trudge
the tadpoles meet
Mayhaw berries sip
so soft ‘n’ sweet

A redfish roams
when a cool spell creeps
from his briny home
into a tidal creek

Wandering far
from familiar sands,
perhaps hook’d, then held
in a stranger’s hands

Perch’d high above
far from the fray
deep in love
two bobwhites stay

They nuzzle and coo
with hearts aglow,
oblivious to
tussles down below

Just one path out,
cross an old truss bridge
that spans the swamp
by blue squat ridge

Sunlight fades for
a star-filled night
and bids adieu
to the bygone sight

Enchanted Rock

Apache seers scaled up toward
my mystic peaks from grassy plains,
on vision quests and pathways forward.
They search’d across my rich domain,
my feldspar glinting in moonlit rain.

“Parched, I moaned
for vernal pools.
I cracked then groaned,
condensed then cooled.

Flora and fauna,
amused, just play’d.
flow’ry anachua,
keen birds of prey.”

As moonshine floods a thorny limb,
two lights beam through the midnight heat.
Owl’s mind swarms, his task so grim ─
sweet lizard blood or deer mouse meat.
Talons dig into knotty mesquite.

“I’ve come so far,
o’er dark terrain,
to hoot, to hoot
ancestors’ names.

Perhaps it’s you,
afore sunrise,
who’ll peer into
those mournful eyes.”

As glimmers grow in eastern skies,
in steps coyote bachelor.
Wearily seeking, through sea-green eyes,
a shadowy spot, a dusty floor,
a day of rest, the days of yore.

“Despite my whine
my yelps and growl,
I won’t dine,
I’ll mourn and howl.

Hey copperhead
can you recall
my Mayan dad,
my Aztec ma?”