As Bright As Snow

Snow Day Soup

ski day reverie
filled with powder grins,
soft turns, silent flakes

always a long day
yet happiness takes its time
falling from the sky

dock spider, mud, fish;
a small hardwood forest hike 
to a man-made lake

you can feel the joy
seeping through this perfect view
of nature, reborn

lakes are in my blood. 
i learned to swim in one
and love nothing more

a magical place:
the only way to describe 
these teenage smiles

even pup loves it 
cycling past wildlife
below the Smokies

where can you see bears
and collect salamanders 
under the same sun?

this mountain-framed pic
taken on the same soil
twenty-three years past

we’re fatter, older
while the mountains are hotter;
such is life—sad changes

yet look at our girls
fearlessly taking this on
one moon-wing a time

a magical place:
the only way to describe 
these teenage smiles

even pup loves it 
cycling past wildlife
below the Smokies

where can you see bears
and collect salamanders 
under the same sun?

this mountain-framed pic
taken on the same soil
twenty-three years past

we’re fatter, older
while the mountains are hotter;
such is life—sad changes

yet look at our girls
fearlessly taking this on
one moon-wing a time

Kentucky River
holds the morning cliff paddle 
(limestone for horses)

you can’t find this view
west of the Mississippi 
(where it’s drought, drought, dry)

here? just paddling
along the river, the creek
till you find yourself

you might find turtles 
(soft shells, even, a bonus)
as you move along

just like the sliders
they slip into the water
hoping for the best

Kentucky has coal
but also cool rainforests 
(midsummer cooldowns)

enough rain will fall
in two days to flood a creek
drunk by my puppy

water is the life
that sustains these roadside farms
its blood for our blood