Boundary Waters

Summer 2013

Hours into night
We traveled
Packed into vans, screaming
Boys one upping each other
For an imaginary prize
Before we arrived
Pitched tents, built fires,
Packed ourselves in green comforters
Beneath glittering Northern lights

When all was fixed
We floated into sleep
And I sailed
Out into the blue reflection
Of Frog pond
Thousands of eyes like stars
Staring back at me
From deeps unknown

Oars at rest
I slipped through
Sheets of silky water
Dove and kicked
A tortoise among
The entrained fishes
Mutual travelers on the
Boundary waters
Dissolving into self

Vibrant sounds
Line the pond’s perimeter
Croaks and chirps, a hooting
Owl overhead
My voice rises to meet
Her temperate meter
Legs long and head back
My body divides
Future from past
Long ago a child drowning
In dangerous unknowns
Afraid to swim unaware
Of horizons he might wake up to
A long time ago
Before he was
responsible

Published August 21, 2013